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THE LIFE AND LETTEES

LADY ARABELLA STUART.

VOL. I.

"From the past
Gome trae hearts broken, gentle spirits torn, ;
And crashed affections, which, though long o'erbome,
Hake their tone heard at laat"

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THE

LIFE AND LETTERS

LADY ARABELLA STFART,

NUMEROUS ORIGINAL AND UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS.

ELIZABETH COOPER,

AUZHOB OF
«A POPULAR HISIORT OP AMERICA. '

IN TWO VOLUMES.
TOL. I.

LONDON;
HURST AND BLAGKETT, BUBLISHERS,

SUCOESSOES TO W^^RY OOLBtTilN,
13, QBEAT MABLBCmO-JGH STIIBBT.

1866.

The right qf TratulaHon f 9 reiwei.

LOITDOIT:

SATZXL Aim BSWAVDS, TVXSTVRB, OHllTDOS STBBBT,

COTSirX QAMDVS,

• \ • • • •
• • •• •• •

/• :•:.••:: :

* • •• ••• • •

• •••••••• •

•• •• • ••« ••••

^^bicatib

ROBERT CHRISTOPHER LUSH, Esq., RA.

IN TESTIMOmr OF SINCEBB FRIENDSHIP

AND BEOOGNITION OF MUCH DISINTERESTED KINDNESS.

1 1

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— Di

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VIU PREFACE.

It is my pleasing duty to acknowledge my
obligations to Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., who
allowed me unlimited access to his inestimable
collection of manuscripts; to Lord Houghton,
for procuring me permission to examine another
rich private collection; to the Rev. Edmund
Kell, for a similar kindness ; and to George Digby
Wingfield Digby, Esq., for permission to engrave
the portrait of Lady Arabella Stuart from the
original miniature in his possession.

CONTENTS

THE FIRST VOLUME.

CHAP. FA6B

I. MAKGARET DOUGLAS 1

IL BESS OF HABDWICK 17

III. THE BIRTH OP ARABELLA STUART ..... 35

IV. THE HOME OF ARABELLA STUART .... 69
V. FIRST SUSPICIONS i 105

VI. THE ENGLISH SUCCESSION ...... 146

VIL THE STORY OF KATHERINE GREY . . . .163

VIII. THE STORY OF KATHERINE GREY {continued) 206
IX. THE FIRST IMPRISONMENT OF ARABELLA . . 241
X. THE ACCESSION OF JAMES THE FIRST . . . 259

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CHAPTER I.

MARGARET DOUGLAS.

ROR more than two centuries the fragments
of a mournful tale have floated down the
records of English history. They relate to
a woman of tender hearty of bright intellect, of
graceful manners, of royal blood, and with no
higher ambition than to be mistress of a private
and peaceful home. Yet such was her untoward
fate, that, without any design of her own,
around her name gathered dark conspiracies
both in England and in foreign lands ; nobles,
priests, kings, and even the pope himself, held
her up as a terror to the reigning monarch, and
as a prize to the most aspiring adventurers of
the day. Guiltless of the crimes, enjoying none
of the rewards, she suflered the utmost penalties
of ambition, and among those who have been
the most cruelly punished for the misfortunes of
rank, she holds a foremost place. Never was a
dearer price paid for royal blood than by the
unfortunate Arabella Stuart.

VOL. i; B

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THE LIFE AND LEHEES

LADY ARABELLA STUART.

VOL. I.

8 Life and Letters of \^Si(>^

is done and committed within the time of this
present Parliament, and in the King^s own Court
and House, his Grace there being for affairs of
his Parliament. It may therefore please the
King^s Highness, at the most humble intercession
of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and the
Commons, in their present Parliament assem-
bled, that it may be enacted, by authority of
the same, that the said offence shall be adjudged
and deemed High Treason, and that the said Lord
Thomas Howard, for his said offence, shall be
attainted of High Treason, and shall have and
suffer such pains and execution of Death to all
intents and purposes, as in cases of high
treason/^*

Thus this Act especially acknowledges the
popular feeling in favour of a successor horn in
the realm, to the exclusion of a nearer heir bom
on foreign soU.

It was followed immediately by another statute,
to which the reader's attention is especially called,
seeing that we shall have occasion to refer to it
hereafter : —

''And be it farther enacted by authority aforesaid,
that if any Man of what estate, degree, or condition
soever he be, at any time hereafter take upon him
to espouse, marry, or take to his wife any of the

* Statutes of the Realm, Henry VIII. chap. xxiv.

(

^536*] Lady Arabella Stuart. 9

Eling's children (being lawfully born or otherwise
commonly reputed or taken for his children)^ or
any of the King's Sisters or Aunts of the part of
the Father (or any of the lawful children) of the
king's Brothers or Sisters (not being married), or
contract marriage with any of them, without
the special license, assent, consent, and agree-
ment first thereunto had and obtained of the
King's Highness in writing under his great seal,
shall be deemed and adjudged a Traitor to the
King and to his Realm, and that every such
offence hereafter to be done, made, or perpetrated
contrary to this Act, shall be adjudged and
deemed to be High Treason ,* and that every man
so offending and their abettors, procurers, com-
forters, counsellors, and aiders, being lawfully
confict of any such offence according to the laws
of this B/ealm, shall have and suffer such like
pains and execution of Death, losses of privilege,
of Sanctuary, and forfeitures of Lands, Tenants,
and Hereditaments to all intents and purposes,
as iQ cases of High Treason appertataeth. Saving
to all and every person and persons, bodies politic
and corporate, their heirs and successors, and
to the heirs and successors of every of them,
other than the said Lord Thomas Howard and
his heirs, and all other persons which shaU
fortune hereafter to be attainted by authority of

10 Life and Letters of \j53l^'

this Act, and their heirs and every of them, all
such right, title, interest, possession, leases, an-
nuities, rent, service, revisions, remainders, offices,
fees, commons conditions and other commodities,
profits, and Hereditaments, in snch manner, form,
quality, and condition as they or any of them
have had, should or might have had, if this Act
had never been had nor made, anything in this
present act to the contrary thereof notwith-
standing.

" Provided alway and be it enacted, that in
every such case before rehearsed the Woman ^^
(after the last day of this Parliament) so offend*^'
ing, being within the degrees before specified, si
incur like danger and penalty as is before limits
and shall sufier such like Death and Punishmen
as is before appointed, to the man oflending in
manner and form expressed in this Act/'*

Modern historians sometimes cast a longing,
hankering glance back to the happy days of
Henry VIII. It is possible that the two
lovers would have thrown an equally yearning
gaze down to our own time, could they have
foreseen the change between the two periods.
Though the above statute was not passed till
after the crime of betrothal was committed, Lord
Thomas Howard was attainted of High Treason,

♦ Statutes of the Eealm, Henry VIII. chap. xxiv.

^537-] Lady Arabella Stuart. 11

and this Act of attainder actually precedes in the
statute-book the very Act he is supposed to
offend against.

Lord Howard and Margaret Douglas were
immediately thrown into separate prisons in the
Tower, where they both fell dangerously ill of
the intermittent fever that was one of the minor
punishments of the State prison.

In November, Margaret was removed to Sion
Abbey, where she remained till the birth of
Prince Edward deprived her of the invidious
chance of being considered heiress presumptive
to the crown; and her danger decreasing with
her rank, she was set at liberty by the king.
But Lord Thomas Howard, who had been allowed
no change from the damp air of the Tower, sunk
under his disease, and died a prisoner on the
31st of October, 1537. His noble relative, the
poet Earl of Surrey, ascribes his death to his
pining for the love of Margaret. It is to be
feared, however, that this romance is ill founded,
and that physical ailments were the cause of
Howard^s death. Disappointed love will cause
murder and suicide, it will render men moody
and irritable, it will destroy their energies, their
ambitions, will plunge them into dissipation, and
send them to seek oblivion for a time in foreign
lands ; but I am unaware of a single authentic

Life and Letters of [i544*

instance of a man dying of a broken heart for
the love of the fairest woman that ever existed.

With slight interruptions^ Margaret Douglas
retained the favour of Henry VIII., who, in the
thirtieth year of her age, married her to one of
the proudest nobles of Scotland, Matthew Earl
of Lennox, in order, by this alliance, to detach
the powerful earl from Scotland, and make him
a creature of his own. Lennox agreed to sur-
render the castles of Dumbarton and Rothesay,
to be a faithful servant of the king, to deliver
up the whole island of Bute, to do his best to
place the infant Queen of Scots in the power of
Henry, and finally to settle, from his Scotch
possessions, the following lands on his bride.

'^ First, the land of Glenrinne, Balloch, and
Arlthinturlees, with all their appurtenances, lying
in the Earldoni of Lennox and Sheriffdom of
Dumbarton. Likewise all the baronies of Chu-
kespe, Tuchilune, Craig of Nielstone, lying within
the lordship of Darnley and Chiefdom of Ren-
freU. Thirdly, with all the lands of Erere, lying
in the Sheriffdom of Perht, to the yearly value
of Five hundred marks sterling over and above all
charges.^'*

In return for this, as poor Margaret was quite
penniless, and possessed nothing but what she

* Rymer's "Foedera," xv. p. 30.

1545-] Lady Arabella Stuart. 13

owed to her English relations^ Henry agreed to
settle on her and the Earl and their heirs,
" lands and possessions in the realm of England
to the clear yearly value of seventeen hundred
marks sterling/^* Early in the next year, Mar-
garet, now Countess of Lennox, became the
mother oi a son, who survived his birth but nine
months ; but on the 7th of December, 1545,
at Temple Newsome, Margaret gave birth to
the father of the race, who, to the present day,
wear the British crown, Henry Stuart, Lord
Damley, and (several children dying in the in-
terval) eleven years later, her youngest son,
Charles, was bom.

The short and woeful career of Damley is
well known. Charles came in a later period,
when the misfortunes of his parents prevented
them from bestowing the care and expense on
his education that rendered his brother Damley
one of the most accomplished fops of the day.
All the Scotch estates of the Earl of Lennox
had been confiscated on account of his treason,
and this, added to his unsettled life, afforded a
poor chance for the youngest son.

At six years of age, Charles was a prisoner
with his mother, who had provoked the jealousy
of Elizabeth by some unguarded expressions con-

* Bymer's " Foedera," xv. p. 30.

14 Life and Letters of \}S1^*

ceming the Queen of Scots, and was in eon-
sequence placed in custody at Sheen.

On the marriage of Damley with the Queen
of Scots, Margaret was lodged in the Tower, and
Charles, who was then only nine years old, was
committed by Queen Elizabeth to the charge of
Lady Knevet. Care was taken of his healthy
and one or two attendants were allowed him;
but the imprisonment of his mother and the
absence of his father, who was constantly en-
gaged in warfare in Scotland, had the necessary
effect on Charles, and in 1571, when Margaret,
released from prison, found herself a widow, the
neglected state of the education of her youngest
son was a source of regret and anxiety. Charles
was of an affectionate and gentle nature, but he
was deficient in the accomplishments befitting
the son of a nobleman ; and Margaret, therefore,
wrote to Sir William Cecil beseeching him to
take her only remaining hope into his house,
there to be educated in a manner becoming his
rank, and there possibly to escape the animosity
that the too prominent characters of her hus-
band and eldest son had provoked, and with it,
their untimely deaths.*

It is uncertain whether Sir William Cecil
complied with this request. He, at any rate,

* "Life of Lady Margaret Douglas," by Miss Strickland.

I574-] Lady Arabella Stuart. 15

appointed a Protestant tutor named Malliet, who
spoke of Charles as jnst entering on his sixteenth
year, and as giving " hopes of great promise for
the future/^ more^ however, on account of his
proximity to the throne than for any signs of
genius or proficiency.

On the 18th of April, 1572, James granted
the earldom of Lennox to Charles Stuart and his
Theirs, without condition or restriction, and
on the 2nd of May, 1572, Queen Elizabeth
wrote a letter to the Earl of Mar, Regent
of Scotland, thanking him for this proof of
the king's kindness to her kinsman, Charles
Stuart.*

A prospect of peace and competence seemed at
last to unfold before Margaret Lennox, and a
promise of repose to welcome her declining
years. She and her son settled to reside in
their house at Hackney,t where we wiU hope
that Charles applied himself diligently to his
studies, and made up as far as possible for lost
time, till his watchful mother, thinking it neces-
sary to look out for a wife for him, obtained the
queen^s permission to pay a visit to Scotland.
On the 9th of October, 1574, when Charles was

• Letter of Queen Elizabeth.^State Papers, Scotch Series,
May 2, 1672. MS.

t See Appendix ii. 1.

16 Life and Letters of [1574.

nineteen years of age^ the mother and son de-
parted for the north.

Travelling was slow work in those days ;
the bad roads were a painful and wearisome
hindrance^ and^ as horseback was the usual, mode
of locomotion, even for aged ladies, a comfortable
resting-place was especially to be desired after a
long day's journey. And when Margaret Len-
nox and her son had arrived near Derbyshire,
they foimd a house thrown open to them, whose
inmates gave them so hearty a reception, so
royal a welcome, that we must leave the travellers
awhile to rest, and give some account of their
hospitable hosts.

1519-74.] Lady Arabella Stuart

CHAPTER 11.

BESSOFHABDWICK.

BY the side of the magnifieeiit building in

Derbyshire known as Hardwick Hall^may

still be seen a hoary ruin, overgrown with

moss and ivy, and carpeted with grass and weeds.

In the reign of King Henry VIII. this ruin was

a comfortable dwelling, inhabited by a country

gentleman of ancient family, of the name of John

Hardwick, and by Elizabeth, his wife. Hardwick

was also the name of the estate of about four

hundred acres, on which the owner dwelt, and

where his ancestors had flourished for five or six

generations. John Hardwick was the father of

a numerous family, of whom by far the most

attrp-ctive and prominent was Elizabeth, or, as

she was irreverently styled, " Bess of Hardwick.^'

Bess was very fair in person, with a delicate

complexion, bright, sparkling hazel eyes, that

changed colour with every light, and expression

with every feeling; light auburn hair, and

aquiline nose; white, taper hands, and a slim,

VOL. I. c

18 Life and Letters of [1519-74.

graceful figure^ of middle height. Only the
rather sharp chin and thin^ red lips seemed to
speak of other things than the contour, taken
altogether, at first expressed.* But Bess had
something more than good looks. She was one
of the best — ^perhaps the very best — ^housekeeper
in the county. Brewing, baking, cooking, drying
herbs, and keeping accountsf strictly, were done
to perfection under her direction, and woe to the
unlucky servant who neglected to brew ^^ here ^'
for her own ^^ drynkynge,^^ or forgot to provide
due store of charcoal and wood, or allowed the
floors to remain unplastered, or the windows to
be broken during the absence of their mistress.
Forbidding all "superfleuete or waste of any-
thinge,^^ she would yet have all' that was ^^ need-
foulle and nesesary,^^ and all in such good order,
that, without doubt, as far as creature comforts
went, whenever Bess ruled, there was a com-
fortable house, t

Bess was quite aware that these qualities and
her sprightly manners and appearance formed by
far the largest part of her fortune, for her father,
though able to maintain a good establishment for

• Her portrait may still be seen at Hardwick Hall,
t These are still to be seen in her own handwriting at
Hardwick.
X See her letter in Hunter's " History of Sheffield.'*

1519-74-] Lady Arabella Stuart. 19

his family when its members were all under his
roof together, could not afford to give them more
tlian forty marks, or not quite twenty-seven
pounds, apiece for their dowries.* It may be
tliought that the skill of Bess in management
^would have made her an excellent wife to a poor
gentleman, or one who needed a little income to
go a long way ; but Bess had no inclination for
that kind of thing. Talent and economy can be
shown in the ordering of a large as well as a
small sum, and the leanings of Bess were most
decidedly in the former direction. Had Tacitus
described her at this period of her life, it would
probably have been as " not despicable in point
of morals, save that she believed poverty to be
the chief of evils. ^^f

Bess was only fourteen years old when an
influential connexion of her family, named Lady
Zouch, gave her an invitation to London, which
was readily accepted. But Bess was not the
only visitor. At the house of Lady Zouch was
a young gentleman named Robert Barlow, of
Barlow, and one of the richest landholders in
Derbyshire. When Bess arrived at the house of
Lady Zouch, Mr. Barlow was confined to his
chamber with a chronic complaint, and the

* " Archaeologia," vol. xxxii. p. 80.
t Tacitus, " Annals."

c 2

20 Life and Letters of [1519-74-

sympathies of Bess were soon enlisted on behalf
of the wealthy sufferer. She speedily became
his nurse, arranged his diet and medicines, and,
by her unremitting attentions, converted his sick-
room into a habitation of light and hope. His
health gradually improved, and with health
came the resolution to offer himself and his
fortune to his devoted nurse.* Her consent was
soon obtained. A will was made, by which the
whole of BarloVs possessions were secured to
Bess and her heirs, and, at the age of fourteen,
she became the wife of Barlow. But his happi-
ness was of short duration. On the 2nd of
February, ISSS,*}* Barlow died, leaving Bess a
young, charming, and wealthy widow. No record
remains of her grief for her husband ; yet though,
without doubt, she had many suitors, Bess re-
mained a widow for fourteen years. The proba-
bility is, that, having secured wealth with her
first husband, she required wealth and title with
the second, and her youth and riches allowed
her ample time to wait for the attainment of
this object.

At the end of fourteen years, the destined

* "MS. History, of George, Earl of Shrewsbury," by
Nathaniel Johnstone, M.D., quoted by Miss Costello, " Emi«
nent Englishwomen," vol. i.

t CoUins*" Peerage."

^5^9-74] Lady Arabella Stuart 21

suitor appeared. Sir William Cavendish was the
second son of Thomas Cavendish, a gentleman
" who, after the example of his ancestors, took to
the study of the laws/^ and became clerk of the
Pipe in the Exchequer in the reign of King Henry
VIII. William received " divers lands in Suflfolk''
from his father, and, what was far better, a liberal
education, which still further advanced him, till
Henry VIII. took notice of him, and constituted
him one of the commissioners for visiting and
receiving the surrenders of some of the monas-
teries.

** Then he came in his might, with King Henry's right,
To turn church lands to lay.
With sword in hand, and torch to light
Their walls, if they said nay."

In this capacity he received the seals of the
monasteries of Sheen and St. Albans. In 1539,
he was made one of the auditors of the Court of
Augmentation,* and, in consideration of his ser-
vices, received a grant to himself, to Margaret
his wife, and his heirs and assigns, of the lord-
ships and manors of Northawe, Cuffeley and Chyl-
dewyke in Hertfordshire. , Soon after, his wife
died, leaving him four daughters. He did not
long remain unmarried, but took for his second

* So called hecause the King's revenue was much aug-
mented by the monastery lands.

22 Life and Letters of [1519-74.

wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Conyngsby,
and widow of Sir William Paris. She soon died,
leaving him two daughters. His worldly pros-
perity still increased.

He was made treasurer of the chamber to the
king, and received the honour of knighthood.
The death of Henry made no difference to his
good fortune. Edward VI. continued him in
all his offices, and made him a member of his
Privy Council. Widowhood had no charms for
Cavendish, and the fair young relict of Barlow,
who was at least twenty years his junior, irresist-
ibly attracted^ him, chiefly, it is said, by her
beauty,^ but probably quite as much by her in-
telligence and winsome manners. The marriage
took place at Brodgate, in Leicestershire, a seat
of the Marquis of Dorset, on the 20th of August,
1547, '^ at two of the clock after midnight.^^f
Cavendish was no less yielding than Barlow to
the enqhanting Bess. At her desire, he sold his
southern estates and bought new land in Derby-
shire, where her own friends and kindred were
settled. And now Bess became not only a hope-
fiil mother of sons and daughters, but one of the
most important personages in her native county.

Among the visitors at the baptisms of her

* Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle,
t Diary of Sir William Cavendish.

i5^9"74-] Lady Arabella Stuart 23

eight children, we find the names of the Duke
and Duchess of Suflfolk, the Marchioness of
Northampton, the Marquis of Winchester, the
Earls of Shrewsbury, Pembroke, and Warwick ;
Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, the Ladies Jane
and Katherine Grey, and even the Queen^s
Majesty herself, acting as sponsor by proxy.*
For her children, Bess manifested that fierce
aflfection which is shown less in care for their
moral and spiritual well-being, than by pushing
them forward in the world, and striving to exalt
and enrich them without let or hindrance, and
very often at the expense of honesty and justice.
As they were all bom within ten years after her
marriage, we might suppose her time to be fully
occupied, without any other cares to distract her.
But Bess was not one of those women who do
nothing ^^ for want of time.^^ Her household
was as rigidly and comfortably managed as ever,
and her steward^s accounts as carefully revised
and signed by her own hand as when she was
the unencumbered Mistress Barlow. She be-
came a builder on a large scale. Ambitious of
leaving to posterity a worthy and solid memorial
of her presence in Derbyshire, and fixing her
eye on the estate of " Chattesworthes,^^t ^'^^ in

* Hunter's "Sheffield."
f Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle.

24 Life and Letters of [1519-74.

possession of the family of the Leeches, who were
her near relations, she easily prevailed on her
husband to buy it, and begin to build a mansion,
which is now represented and succeeded by the
ducal palace of Chatsworth.

Before the house was finished, Sir William
Cavendish died, on the 25th of October, 1557, and
Bess was again a widow, but now of the discreet
age of forty. Though sincerely attached to her
second husband, and marking him in her register
as her " most dear and well-beloved, on whose
soule I most humbly beseech the Lord to have
mercy, and to rid me and his poor children out
of our great misery,^' Bess in due time allowed
herself to be consoled. Nor must we accuse her
of special want of feeling on that account. In
the times in which she lived, it was a rare thing
for either man or woman to remain in a state of
widowhood, if possessed of even moderate attrac-
tions, and the criticisms which in the present
age would pursue a lady marrying for the third
time, would, in the days of Bess, have awakened
astonishment at the critic rather than contempt
at the criticised. Bess only acted like the most
beautiful and celebrated women of her day —
women over whom poets and historians have
thrown a halo of refined romance and admiration.
Mary Stuart, Lettice KnoUys, and the Queens

15^9-74-] Lady Arabella Stuart. 25

Margaret Tudor and Catherine Parr^ were
equally fickle, the chief diflTerence between them
and Bess being, that their influence over their
successive consorts was far inferior to hers.
Nor is it fairer to blame her for the unlimited
sway she held over those nearest to her. When
aided by afiection, it is a law as irrevocable as
the law of gravity, that the stronger shall gOAcrn
the weaker mind. This principle has at all times
been a source of irritation to common spectators
unable to probe it to its spring ; and therefore,
while some in ancient times called it Witch-
craft, and others later on have stigmatized it as
" a domineering spirit,^' " an overbearing will,
&c.,^^ the simple truth has nearly always been
overlooked, that it is not for the power, but the
use of the power, that the possessor is responsi-
ble. Happy is that weak mortal who can repose
his frailty in the strength of a high and generous
spirit, which, by using its heaven-born influence,
shall preserve its friend from the infections of a
thousand meaner minds. Only when this gift —
inseparable as the personal presence — ^is perverted
and made a tool of evil, can it be justly assailed.
And how the widow of Cavendish used it, we
shall presently see.

Four years had not passed since the death of
" her dear and well-beloved," when a third lover.

26 Life and Letters of [1519-74.

if possible more ardent and devoted than the
former two^ laid himself at her feet. This was
Sir William Saintlow, the handsome Captain of
the Guard to Queen Elizabeth, and Grand
Butler of England, the possessor of ^^ divers fair
lordships in Gloucestershire/^ and, to the annoy-
ance of Bess, sundry encumbrances in the shape
of daughters by a former wife. Bess was quite
at home in the matter of marriage settlements,
and before she would consent to bestow her hand
on the enamoured knight, she demanded that the
whole of the ^^ fair lordships^^ in Gloucestershire
should be settled, in default of issue by her third
marriage, on herself and children by Sir William
Cavendish, to the entire exclusion of the just
claimants — the eldest daughters of Sir William
Saintlow.* Base as was this demand on her
part, she yet thought of her, offspring, and it is
with still greater contempt that we read that,
rather than give her up, the knight yielded, and
disinheriting and forsaking his own children for
the Delilah, he conferred on her the title of
Lady Saintlow. Whether his children inherited
his own baseness of spirit, or whether, brought
in such close contact, they, like others, were
compelled to yield to the immutable law,
we cannot say. Certain it is that the insulted

* CoUins' "Noble Families."

^519-74-] Lady Arabella Stuart 27

daughters of Saintlow maintained the most
friendly intercourse with their step-mother,
accepted her patronage in lieu of their rights,
and lived in harmony with the Cavendish chil-
dren, for whose sake they had been despoiled.
But Death, at least, was jealous, and after a short
union, Saintlow died, leaving Bess sole heiress of
all his property, and leaving no children by his
last marriage, his rich estates joined those of
Barlow and Cavendish, and descended to the
heirs of Bess.

It might now be fairly supposed that Bess had
received her full measure at the hand of Fortune,
or that the knowledge of the contract concerning
Sir William Saintlow^s estates, as well as her
mature age — ^for she was now fifty — would have
cooled her admirers as well as diminished her
fascinations. Nothing of the kind. " In this
third widowhood she had not survived her charms
of wit and beauty,'^ and by far the greatest con-
quest was to come. During the lives of her
former husbands, she had turned her wealth to
great account — had taken her place at Court,
and, as we have seen at the christening-parties
of her children, had established herself on inti-
mate terms with the noblest families of the king-
dom. At one of those famous christening-parties
came the greatest and most trusted of the nobles

28 Life and Letters of [1519-74.

of England — George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury.
Since then, he had probably kept up a friendly-
intercourse with Bess, the nearness of his castle
at Sheffield making him a frequent neighbour,
and, like all the men around her, he was struck
with her wondrous energy and skill in manage-
ment. She did not indulge the '^ luxury of
grief,^^ but solaced her widowhood with the sound
of the hammer and the saw, with farming, buying
and selling estates, transacting business in lead,
coals, and timber,* and astonishing the spectators
with the ^^byldinges^^ — ^the object of ^^my workes,''
as she herself styles them.

Earl George was the first Protestant of the
house of Talbot ; his wealth was great, his con-
nexions among the highest in the land, but, like
Saintlow, he was burdened with ^ family. Yet
the voice of the syren had but to sound, and his
wife, having been dead a year, he laid himself
and all his unentailed possessions at the feet of
Bess. Fortunately, he had sons as well as
daughters, and Bess saw that it would be impos-
sible to secure so clear a bargain as she had
driven with the infatuated Saintlow. So she
took a middle and prudent course. She declared
that, in addition to a splendid jointure settled on
herself, it was necessary that her eldest son,

* Lodge, i*

^5^9*74-] Lady Arabella Stuart 29

Henry Cavendish, should espouse the EarFs
daughter, Grace, and her youngest daughter,
Mary, be joined to Gilbert, the heir of Earl
George, thus irrevocably linking the fortunes of
the two houses of Cavendish and Talbot, and
afiTording the best prospects of high connexions
for such of her children as were still undisposed
of. The Earl consented to all these arrange-
ments, and the fourth marriage of the uncon-
querable Bess was celebrated with as much pomp
and affection — at least, on the part of the bride-
groom — as if Bess were still the blooming girl
who, at the age of fourteen, had bewitched the
heart of Robert Barlow. Even Queen Elizabeth,
so usually jealous of the marriage of her nobles,
signified her approbation, and declared that,
" glad as she had been to see Mistress Saintlow,
she should be still more rejoiced to see my Lady
of Shrewsbury/' Time passed on, and, as yet.
Earl George was not behind his predecessors in
his devotion to his wonderful Bess. Still, ^^ of
all earthly joys that had happened unto him, he
thanked God chiefest for her.''* Even yet her
cup of honour was not full. On the 17th of
May, 1568, Mary, Queen of Scots, landed in
England — a refugee from her country. It is
here no place to discuss the question of her im-

* Letter of the Earl of Shrewsbury.— Hunter's "Sheffield."

30 Life and Letters of [i574-

prisonment, or the vengeance which the mother
of Darnley had implored Elizabeth to take.
SuflSce it to say that the Queen of Scots was
placed in charge of the Earl of Shrewsbury, with
strict orders that none save his wife and himself
were to hold intercourse with her, and Bess
became the gaoler of a queen. And it was while
this queen was in her custody that the aged
mother of the murdered Darnley was travelling
to the north, in search of a wife for her son
Charles, that Bess, who had a charming unmar-
ried daughter, hearing of the journey, and that
the royal travellers would pass near her house at
Ruflford, made such royal preparations, and
offered such princely hospitality, that, as the
Countess of Lennox said, for very courtesy sake
they must needs accept it, and rest awhile with
the Countess of Shrewsbury.

Bess was well rewarded for her hospitaUty.
Not many days elapsed before Charles Stuart
was captivated by the charms of Elizabeth Caven-
dish, who, though lately disappointed in love,
like her mother, was open to consolation. Very
scanty glimpses are afforded of her, but the few
that remain seem to give the idea of a gentle,
affectionate girl, entirely imder the sway of her
mother, to whom, unlike her sister Mary, the
wife of Gilbert Talbot, she seems to have borne

I574-] Lady Arabella Stuart 31

no resemblance in the sterner parts of her
character.

The Earl of Shrewsbury, writing to Lord
Bxirleigh at this time, gives a comical account of
tlie state of affairs : —

" The Lady Lennox, being as I heard sickly,
rested her at Rufford five days, and kept most
her bedchamber. And in that time the young
man her son fell into Uking with my wife^s
daughter before intended, and such liking was
between them as my wife tells me she makes no
doubt of a match, and hath so tied themselves
upon their own liking as cannot part. My wife
hath sent him to my lady, and the young man
is so far in love that belike he is sick without
her. This taking effect, I shall be well at quiet,
for there is few noblemen^s sons in England that
she hath not prayed me to deal for at one time
or other, for my Lord Wharton and sundry
others. And now this comes unlooked-for with-
out thanks to me.'^*

* This letter is printed in Howard's Collection, who
refers it to the Cotton MSS., Cal. C. 3. I have examined this
MS., but the letter is not to be found ; nor have I succeeded
in obtaining the original. It bears, however, such internal
marks of authenticity that I have not hesitated to use it.
The mutilated transcript will be well understood by those
unhappy readers who have sought to decipher the hand-
writing and spelling of the noble George of Shrewsbury. — E.O.

32 Life and Letters of ' [1574.

Bess did not let matters wait till they should
reach the ear of the Queen, who would be certain
to forbid such a match, and the marriage was
solemnized during the visit of Charles and his
mother. No objection seems to have been made
by the Countess of Lennox. She had suflFered
enough by the marriage of her eldest son to
reconcile her to a lowlier alliance for Charles ;
nor was it likely that the only son of the
widow would find his happiness thwarted by
the mother whose hopes rested on him alone.
Margaret had found no happiness from her royal
blood, and possibly she saw a vista of peace in
the unambitious hopes of Charles. Without
doubt, too, Bess used all her charms and fasci-
nations, and convinced the noble visitors that
happiness, at least, was to be found in her
domain.

But peace was soon at an end. When the
news of the marriage arrived at Court, Queen
Elizabeth instantly summoned Margaret and
her son from the north, uttering threats of im-
prisonment in the Tower to all concerned in the
marriage. The Earl of Shrewsbury, declaring
that the marriage was ^^ dealt in suddenly^' and
without his knowledge, and being besides ne-
cessary as keeper to Mary, Queen of Scots, was
allowed to remain ; but Bess began to find her

1574.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 33

specnlation threaten dangers ; and, with the rest,
she also was summoned to London. The dismal
bridal-party travelled by slow and painful jour-
neys on horseback in the depth of winter, over
bad roads, and at last arrived trembling at the
end of their journey. Where Bess remained is
not mentioned, probably she accompanied the
other three to Hackney, the residence of Mar-
garet. At first, the royal command went no
farther than forbidding the culprits to stir from
their place of abode, and to speak to any save those
whom the Privy Council allowed to listen. But
sterner orders followed, and a few days after
Christmas, the two mothers, Margaret and Bess,
were lodged in the Tower. The sensation of im-
prisonment was unpleasant to Bess, who, however,
controlled herself, and submitted with a good grace.
But Margaret gave utterance to her feelings, and
said : " Thrice have I been cast into prison, not
for matters of treason, but for love matters.
First, when Thomas Howard, son to Thomas first
Duke of Norfolk, was in love with myself; then
for the love of Henry Damley, my son, to Queen
Mary of Scotland; and, lastly, for the love of
Charles, my younger son, to Elizabeth Caven-
dish.^'

The Earl of Shrewsbury wrote anxious letters
in behalf both of his wife and Margaret.

VOL. I. D

34 Life and Letters of [i574-

Leicester, Burgliley, and tlie Queen herself were
addressed by him. He declared that Bess had
no intent but that of " reverent dutie/' and that
the Lady Lennox had conducted herself in all
respects as a loyal subject.* His words may
have had some effect. A commission was granted
by the Queen to the Earl of Huntingdon to hold
a court and examine Fowler and all the servants
of Margaret concerning the marriage. The trial
proceeded slowly, but eventually was decided in
favour of the prisoners, and both were released.
But meantime, Elizabeth, the young Countess
of Lennox, had become the mother of a daughter,
the heiress of the house of Lennox, and known
in history as Arabella Stuart.

* Lodge, iii.

^575-] Lady Arabella Stuart 35

CHAPTER III.

THE BIRTH OF ARABELLA STUART.

She precise date of the birth of Arabella
Stuart has long been a matter of un-
certainty. The most reliable authorities
have believed it to have been somewhere in the
year 1575. This is placed beyond all doubt by the
following extract from a letter of Margaret,
Countess of Lennox, to Mary, Queen of Scots.
The letter is written from Hackney, where the
young Countess was staying with her mother-in-
law, and is endorsed November 10, 1575 : —

^^ And now must I yield your Majesty most
humble thanks for your good remembrance and
bounty to our little daughter here, who some
day may serve your highness. Almighty God
grant unto your Majesty an happy Ufe. — Hackney,
this 10th of November.

^^Your Majesty^s most humble and loving
mother and aunt,

* State Papers, Mary, Queen of Scots, x. Printed in Miss
Strickland's " Queens of Scotland."

D 2

86 Life and Letters of [}57S'

To this letter is added a postscript by Eliza-
beth Lennox, which is here given as one of the
few remains of the mother of Arabella Stuart : —

^^ I most humbly thank your Majesty that it
pleased your highness to remember me your poor
servant, both with a token and in my lady^s
gracious letter, which is not little to my comfort.
I can but wish and pray God for your Majesty^s
long and happy estate tUl time I may do your
Majesty better service, which I think long to do,
and shall always be as ready thereto as any servant
your Majesty hath, according as by duty I am
bound. I beseech your highness pardon these
rude lines, and accept the good heart of the
writer, who loves and honours your Majesty un-
feignedly.

^^ Your Majesty's most humble and lowly
servant during life,

" E. Lennox/'

In addition to the letter of Margaret may be
added another testimony from the Harleian
Manuscripts.* Amongst a curious collection of
pedigrees, entitled " Genealogia Regum AngluB,
1582,^' is given that of Margaret Douglas and
her posterity. Of Darnley is it said, '^ Occisus

* Harl.MSS.>fol.588.

^375'] Lady Arabella Stuart. 37

est in Scotid a Comite Bodel, ex imidtis, ob catisam
Davidis Italici, a Secretis Regina,^' By this stands
" Caroltis Stuard, natus 1548, Comes Lenox,
AngluSy duxit filiam Gulielmi Candish Militia in
Anglia de Chatsworth/^ After Charles comes
"Arbella, nata 1575 apud Chatsu/^ in Anglia J'
It is remarkable that in both places the word
Chatsworth is written in diflferent ink^ having
evidently been added afterwards when the desired
information was obtained. At another part of
the volume is an extract of the Scotch pedigrees,
written in the last-mentioned ink. And here
we find " Arbella nata 1575 apud Cat worth in
Anglia/' without hesitation. Many wrong dates
occur in these pedigrees, but that relating to
Arabella so entirely agrees with other circum-
stances that it may safely be relied on. The
care evidently taken concerning her birthplace,
renders the information given worthy of trust.

The baptism of Arabella was, in all probability,
celebrated at the parish church of Edensor, ac-
cording to the custom of the day, which enjoined
the highest in rank to be baptised in the parish
church, the castle chapel being considered too
private for so important a ceremony, except when
the sickliness of the infant rendered 9' removal
dangerous, or when the delay of an hour might
peril the salvation of the stranger. In such im-

88 Lije and Letters of \}575'

minent danger^ the nurse received a license from
the bishop to perform the ceremony herself.

In the case of Arabella, there was happily nd
need of such a departure from the ordinary
course, and we may be sure that Bess left out
none of the observances due to the royal rank of
her little grandchild. On all such occasions, the
whole of the family, with the visitors, went in
procession to the church, where, on arriving at
the porch, they were met by the clergyman, and a
short prayer being oflTered, the child was named.
It was then carried to the font, which stood
under a canopy in the middle of the church.
The water in the font was consecrated, and, being
covered up to keep it from pollution, it was not
deemed necessary to change it for every cere-
mony, but the waste was gradually supplied, and
a regular consecration every month was deemed
sufficient to keep it in holy order. On arriving
at the font, a prayer was offered to Jesus Christ,
beseeching Him to send down the Holy Spirit
to sanctify the fountain of baptism, even as the
Holy Spirit had descended in the form of a dove
in times of old on His divine person. Till the
time of Elizabeth, the custom was to dip the
child in the water thrice ; first on the right side,
then on the left, and lastly, with its face into the
font, the three immersions being supposed to

^575-] Lady Arabella Stuart 39

represent the Trinity. But in the reign of Eliza-
beth immersion was superseded by sprinkling —
a change brought by the returned exiles from
Geneva, and it was probably in this manner that
Arabella received the first sacrament. Imme-
diately after the baptism, the sponsors placed
their hands on the chUd, and the minister cover-
ing it with a white vestment called the chrysome,
said, " Take this white vestment as a token of
the innocency which, by God's grace, in this
holy sacrament of baptism, is given unto thee,
and for a sign, whereby thou art admonished, so
long as thou livest, to give thyself to innocence
of living, that, after this transitory life, thou
mayest be a partaker of the life everlasting.'^ The
child was next anointed (a relic of the Catholic
service), and the sponsors offered their gifts —
generally articles in gold or silver; refresh-
ments were then brought into the church, con-
sisting of wafers, comfits, and hippocras, a rich
spiced wine (another relic of the old monks), and
the company having freely partaken, the proces-
sion re-formed, and the presents of the sponsors
being carried before the child, the company re-
turned to the hall or castle, where the day was
concluded in feasting and festivity. Of the
sponsors of Arabella, the only ones whose names
I have been able to discover, are her uncle, Wil-

40 Life and Letters of [}S77^

liam Cavendish, and her aunt, Mary, the wife
of Gilbert Talbot, though she probably had many
more, sponsors being quite unlimited at that time.

From the first year of her existence, a cloud
seemed to settle over the devoted head of Ara-
bella. The royal frown was scarcely withdrawn
frpm her two grandmothers, before a still darker
shadow fell over her father. Consumption fastened
slowly upon him, and in the beginning of the year
1577, he sank into an early grave, leaving behind
him a young widow and a child of two years
old, bereft, indeed, of their natural protector,
but, as might be supposed, surrounded by rela-
tions and connexions too powerful to leave cause
to fear any other consequences than those arising
from natural affection and grief. It proved far
otherwise.

The age in which the lot of Arabella Stuart
was cast was one in which might almost in-
variably conquered right ; it was an age when,
though Parliament might resist encroachments
on the public welfare on a large scale, and the
Queen could trust herself without guards in
the midst of a worshipping people, yet indi-
vidual liberty and personal claims stood on very
frail grounds indeed. Men rode to battle like
lions against a foreign foe in fields where re-
nown and honours were to be openly awarded ;

1577'] Lady Arabella Stuart 41

Taut they could be very quiet in other matters at
home, that were utterly opposed to all law and
justice, and needed bold speaking rather than
sharp swords. Tournaments still existed, but chi-
valry was a mere name. No distressed damsel
found a knight-errant then. All Englishmen were
ready to dare anything for the Queen; none
would openly brave her anger, or plead a cause
against her.

The death of Charles Lennox plunged his
whole family into poverty. The estates settled
by Henry VIII. on the father and mother of
Charles and their heirs, were now seized and
sequestered by Queen Elizabeth, and Arabella was
thus deprived of her English possessions. The
Scotch estates would have been a sufficient heri-
tage to maintain her as a princess, and to these
estates she had an undoubted right. The earl-
dom of Lennox had, in 1572, been conferred by
James VI. on Charles Stuart and his heirs,
without reservation or condition. The gift was
sanctioned by the Earl of Mar, then Regent, and
by an Act of Parliament confirming it in every
particular.

This claim was now immediately asserted by the
relations of Arabella. Her grandmother Lennox
wrote to Lord Ruthven,* to know if the child^s

* State Papers, Scotch Series, vol. zzviii. fol. 3. MS.

42 Life and Letters of \}Sn^

title was to be acknowledged^ and a petition
was presented to the Earl of Mar, to grant the
wardship of the lands of Lennox to the countess.
The petition was bluntly refused, and the title of
Arabella questioned. It was in vain that the
just plea was urged, that the title had been
granted to Charles and his heirs for ever by the
King, and confirmed by the Regent, and the whole
state of Scotland by Act of Parliament.

The Regent answered that '' the admission of
the Lady Arabella to the earldom of Lennox,
although there were no other doubt, could not
now be accomplished, for that by the death
of her father, the earldom falleth into the
King's hands by reason of ward, and cannot be
admitted before eighteen years of age, an& that
he had rather the King should make choice whom
of his so near kinsfolks he would prefer.^' * To
this the Regent added the cheering words, that
'' the same gift of the earldom, made by the Earl
of Mar, then Regent, under the great seal of
Scotland, and also by Act of Parliament, may
by the King be revoked at any time, either
within age or at ftill age.''

James had already, declared his intention of
'' revoking " the gift, and of making a present
of the inheritance of Arabella to his favourite

♦ Harl. MSS. 289, fol. 201.

^577*] Lady Arabella Stuart. 43

and cousin, Esme Stuart, Lord D^Aubigny, pro-
posing, however, to compromise matters by
marrying Arabella to the new possessor. But
as Arabella was only two years old, and as it
was certain that Queen Elizabeth would refuse
her consent to such a betrothal, the recompense
was justly regarded as a farce, while the ^ >bbery,
for it cjln be called nothing else, was an immi-
nent fact. The earldom of Angus and the dower
lands settled by Mathew, Earl of Lennox, on
his wife, had been confiscated, and thus she and
her little granddaughter were left absolutely pen-
niless, so far as the claims of Lennox were con-
cerned. One hope remained, — ^the Earl of
Leicester was one of the most fervent admirers
of Bess of Hardwick. He spoke in raptures of
her ^^ noble and wise government of herself at
Courte '/^* and having experienced her hospitality
at Buxton and Chatsworth, had given so glow-
ing an account of it, that Queen Elizabeth her-
self had written to thank the Earl of Shrewsbury
for the entertainment of her favourite. To him,
therefore, the widowed Elizabeth Stuart now
wrote, beseeching him to intercede with Queen
Elizabeth to use her powerful influence in behalf
of Arabella.

Leicester, however, was cautious. He thought

* Lodge, ii. p. 149.

44 Life and Letters of ['577-

the present time not propitious, as will be seen
by the following extract from a letter of Gilbert
Talbot to the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury :

" I shewed the letter of my lady of Lennox,
your daughter, to my Lord of Leicester, who
said he thought it far better for him to defer her
suits to her Majesty till his own coming to the
Court than otherwise to write to her before ; for
that he thinketh her Majesty will suppose his
letter, if he should write, were but at your lady-
ship's request, and so by another letter would
straight answer it again, and so it do no good. But
at his meeting your lady, he will, he saith, ad-
vise in what sort your lordship shall write to the i
Queen's Majesty, which he will carry unto her,
and then be as earnest a solicitor therein as ever
he was for anything in his life, and he doubteth
npt to prevail to your lordship's contentation."*

Thus this important matter was left undecided "j

for some time, and the young widow, with her
jchild, was left dependent on her own family, and ^i

compelled to feel that her alliance with royal
blood had been barren enough as far as wealth
and magnificence were concerned. \

It was at this time that the first portrait of
Arabella was taken, which may stiQ be seen ^

in the picture-gallery at Hardwick Hall.*^ The j

* Hunter's "Sheffield.*^

1577.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 45

face is infantine, but highly intelligent, and the
portrait possesses a pathos that, despite the
outrageous costume of the subject, inspires the
gazer with interest, even without the knowledge
of her history. False red hair, drawn over rolls,
in the French fashion of the present day; a
figured brocade cap of a fashion becoming a
woman of sixty, fastened round her head by a
band of gold and gems; a brocade dress, em-
broidered with pink flowers and green leaves, and
made high at the neck, covered with a cape-like
collar of the same material; immense sleeves,
fastened round the wrists with bracelets, a chain
twisted several times round the neck, and sus-
taining a jewel, with a device, representing a
scroll encircling a heart, surmounted with a
coronet, and bearing the motto, '' POUR PAR-
VENIR J'ENDURE,''— all these deform the
little being, whose innocent face presents a
ludicrous contrast to her dress, the only thing
in character with her age being a sour-looking
doU, dressed in Elizabethan costume, which
Arabella clutches in her hand.

We may be sure that no watchftJness was
spared to bring her safely over the first perilous
years of infancy, but that she reaped the full
benefit of such physical knowledge as was granted
to her day. The importance of diet and exercise

46 Life and Letters of [1577.

was at least understood^ and the attention paid
to them no doubt helped to enable the patients
to survive the remarkable medicines which were
largely administered at the first symptom of
illness. Simple food was considered necessary
for children, weak ale, however, holding a place
that would be supplied in our days by milk among
the more harmless fish, eggs, and beef that con-
stituted the usual diet of the nursery.* As
soon as the child could speak plainly and be made ^

to understand, its education commenced, and by
the age of five some progress was expected, even
in a foreign language, the rod being unsparingly
used to enforce application, while amusement
was afforded by a few rough toys, such as a ^

pampered child of the present day would scorn to /

touch. The juvenile books, which form so de- ^

lightfiil a part of our present literature, were totally
unknown, and, consequently, if a child really had a
hunger for books, it was obliged to satisfy it with *

works written for adults, and hence the early /

familiarity with much that was gross and revolting 1

which so largely contributed to the general license
of speech and manners.

Arabella passed her first years in Derbyshire, I

* The first governess of Queen Elizabeth complains of her r^

wanting to eat the rich dishes of the older people. — See
EUis's" Letters.**

I
1

'1577.] Lady Arabella Stuart 47

Tinder tlie care of her mother and grandmother
of Shrewsbury, and was probably, at times, ad-
mitted into the presence of her unfortunate aunt,
Mary, Queen of Scots, who, bereft of her only
child, and seeking to divert her miserable cap-
tivity with needlework and the rearing of fowls,
would be likely to receive gladly the far more
cheering solace afforded by the prattle of an
engaging little girl, and one so nearly related to

\ her. It is quite certain that she manifested a

kindly interest in the orphan daughter of her

j husband^s house.*

In her will, dated 1577, Mary leaves her

' crown of Scotland and right of succession to

L Queen Elizabeth, to Charles Lennox or Claude

Hamilton, whichever shall serve her most faith-
fully and be most constant in religion, should her
son James persist in his heresy.f Before the
will was completed, Mary heard of the death of
Charles Lennox. Her prompt acknowledgment
of the survivor^s claims offers a marked contrast
to the conduct of her son. In the same will,
she orders that the Countess Margaret shall be
reinstated in the earldom of Angus, and that
Arabella shall take possession of her inheritance
of the earldom of Lennox, and expressly orders

* State Papers, Mary, Queen of Scots, x. fol. 71, MS.
t Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots.

48 Life and Letters of [1578.

James, as her heir and successor, to fulfil her
behest with regard to Arabella.*

But neither James nor the Regent was dis-
posed to obey, and on the 10th of March, 1578,t
the cause of Arabella was stiU further weakened
by the death of her grandmother, Margaret,
Countess of Lennox. This daughter of Queen
Margaret, despoiled both of her inheritance and
her dower, died so poor that she did not leave
sufficient to defray the expenses of her funeral
in a manner becoming her rank. Queen Eliza-
beth, therefore, for the credit of the royal house,
/ undertook the charge of her funeral, and ordered

her to be buried magnificently in Westminster
Abbey, where the pompous inscription on her
monument vainly seeks to hide the poverty, de-
pendence, and misfortunes of her life.

To Arabella she left some jewels, to be given
to her if she lived to be fourteen, and, in case
of her death before that age, they were to be-
come the property of her cousin James of Scot-
land. Thomas Fowler, the servant of Margaret,
was appointed sole executor, and to him Mary,
Queen of Scots, gave a warrant to transfer the
jewels to the custody of Bess of Shrewsbury,
till Arabella should have attained the above-

* Labanoff: Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots.
f See the inscription on the monument of Lady Lennox.

1578.] Lady Arabella Stuart 49

named age. The following is the list of the
jewels : —

'' My Lady Margaret's Grace cominitted her
casket with jewels into the hands of Mr. Thomas
Fowler, to be delivered to the Lady Arabella at
the age of fourteen.*

1. A jewel set with a fair table diamond, a
table ruby, and an emerald with a fair great
pearl.

2. A cross all set with fair table diamonds,
^ with a square linked chain.

3. A jewel set with a ballast, and a fair table
I diamond set beneath it.

4. A H of gold set with rock ruby.

5. A burrish set with a fair diamond.

6. A rose set with fair diamonds.

7. A carcanet set with table diamonds.
* 8. A girdle set with table diamonds.

9. A border set with table diamonds.

10. A border set with table rubies.

11. A border set with rock emeralds.

12. A table, the head of gold set with
diamonds.

13. A fair pearl chain.

14. A chain set with rock rubies, pillar-wise.

L 15. A chain of small turquoise set upon a

three square pillar.

* State Papers, Eliz., Dom., ccxxxi., fol. 99, MS.
\ VOL. I. E

50 Life and Letters of [1578.

16. A clock set in crystal, with a wolf of gold
upon it.

17. Buttons of rock rubies to set a gown.

18. Table diamonds to set upon sleeves.

19. Two tablets of gold, the one with two
agates, with divers small turquoises the other.

20. Enamelled the form of a globe.

21. Bracelets two pair; one of agate, and the
other of plain gold, with other things that be
not yet in memory.*^

James, however, showed a diflFerent disposition
towards his cousin. While utterly regardless of
and trampling on the claims of Arabella to the
earldom of Lennox, he immediately began to
besiege Queen Elizabeth to give up the lands
conferred by Henry VIII. on his grandfather,
Mathew, on his marriage with Margaret Douglas.
That he had possession of all the Scotch lands
conferred on his grandmother as a marriage
settlement, and to which, in strict justice, Ara-
bella also might be supposed to have some claim,
he gave not a thought. In July, 1578, the
Abbot of Dunfermline was despatched on an
embassy to Queen Elizabeth,* his chief object
being the prosecution of the claims of James to
the '^ands and living here in England some-
times appertaining to the Lord the Earl of
* State Papers, xxvii., Scotch Series, MS.

1578.] Xiady Arabella SiuarU 51

Lennox and my Lady Margaret Ids wife, his
Majesty's grandfather and grandmother, now
falling to his highness through their decease, by
just title of order and lawful succession/' The
abbot then demanded, in the name of his master,
to peruse the wiU of the late countess, and ex-
amine her accounts, in order to see the net
remains when all her debts were paid, and all
moneys owing to her received.

On the 28th of July, the abbot had an audience
with the Queen and some of the CouncU, and
found, to his disgust, that '' diflSculties were
made'' to grant his suit. The law that was always
a bugbear and terror to James, viz., that no alien
could inherit property in England, rose before
him, and with this thought probably awoke his
first feelings of jealousy and fear of his little
cousin Arabella, who was equally related to the
deceased countess, the granddaughter of Henry
VII., from whom he claimed the succession to
the English crown ; and her inferior title, as the
child of a younger branch, waxed mighty and
terrible when it was asserted that the child of the
elder was an alien, while she was born on
English soil. " Queen Elizabeth," says the abbot,
" seeming to remit his suit in that behalf to the
laws of England, by which some meant to debar
him from his right through occasion of his birth in

E 2

52 Life and Letters of [1578.

Scotland, I showed that as his highness un-
donhtedly looked for more friendly dealings at
the hands of the Queen, to whom he is so dear,
although his rights and interests were far more
slender than it is, so doubted he not but whaU
soever default and lack of rigour of law may appear
through the place of his birth, her highness, in
consideration of the nearness of their blood, by her
amity would supply it, enabling him to succeed
to the same land and livings, the pretence of his
foreign birth notwithstanding,^^ and thus '^ might
she well supply that v)hich seemeth to lack by her
special favour,"*

The abbot could obtain nothing but that,
besides other reasons, the lands were now in
ward, and the Queen could not show favour in
this case without touching others whom it might
offend, and that her majesty would only grant
that, the lands being sequestered, the profits
should be employed in paying a guard for the
King^s person during the period of sequestration.

Those on whose account the Queen professed
to hesitate, and whom she " feared to offend,'^
now presented their suit on behalf of Arabella,t
alleging that, by the laws of England, Lord
Charles was next heir to his mother, and his

* State Papers, Scotch Series, xxvii. MS.
t Ibid. xvii. Ibl. 51, MS.

1578.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 53

daughter next heir to him^ and that^ consequently^
such lands as were not entailed on heirs male
were her right. But the cunning queen now in
turn made use of James as a cause for refusing
the suit of Arabella's friends^ " which she hath
done upon regard of the King of Scots/' and, in
order to be just, " her majesty hath requested
the profit of that kind to go into the hands of the
treasurer of England, master of the Ward, to be
hereafter answered as he shall, by farther inqui-
sition, find the same ought to come by the order
of the laws of the realm, by which all land
belonging to any subject ought to be ordered/'
And thus the question of the lands was disposed
of for the present, and both the grandchildren of
Margaret Lennox were deprived of property to
which Elizabeth admitted there were two evi-
dences in the letters patent of King Henry
and Queen Mary, then extant as records in the
Chancery of London.

The next question was the property left by the
will of the countess, and which was answered in
a manner equally unsatis&ctory to the legatees.
"As to her testament, though she made one,
yet she died in so great debt, and her goods so
far unable to answer the same, as the Queen's
Majesty of natural favour, pity, and honour to her
cousin, did bestow the charges of all her funeral.

54 Life and Letters of [1578.

to the intent her goods might serve to pay her
debts/^ To Arabella's friends the Queen de-
clared that the late countess's creditors had claims
as well as Arabella, and to James she said truly
enough that she found it ^^ very strange that any
disposition should be intended of the earldom to
the prejudice of the young lady, the only daugh-
ter and heir of Charles, late Thike of Lennox, who
had that estate assined to him and hdrs gene-
rally,^^ " For justice sake/' urged the Queen,
^^ let the King know this, that by ignorance he
be not counselled to do any wrong to an Infant,
Lady, and one of the next cousins in blood, being
the sole heir to the said last Earl of Lennox."*

Thus Elizabeth, equivocating about the lands,
and denying the existence of property under the
will, fully ^acknowledged the title of Arabella to
the earldom of Lennox. Burghley, the tried
councillor, was of the same opinion, and it was
on the occasion of his expressing it that he
received the following letter from the mother of
Arabella : —

Elizabeth, Countess of Lennox, to Lord Burghley.

"1 CAN but yield your lordship most hearty
thanks for your contiaual goodness towards me
and my little one, and especially for your lord-

* State Papers, Scotch Series, xxvii. fol. 51, MS.

1578.] Lady Arabella Stuart 55

ship's late good dealing with the Scots Ambas-
sador for my poor child's right, for which, as also
sundry otherwise, we are for ever bound to your
lordship, whom I beseech still to further that
cause as to your lordship may seem best.

^^ I can assure your lordship that the earldom
of Lennox was granted by Act of Parliament to
my lord my late husband, and the heirs of his
body, so that they should offer great wrong in
seeking to take it from Arbella, which I trust,
by your lordship's good means, will be prevented,
being of your mere goodness for justice sake so
well disposed thereto. For all which your lord-
ship's goodness, as I am bound, I rest in heart
more thankful than I can anywise express.

'^ I take my leave of your lordship, whom I
pray God long to preserve.

^^At Newgate Street, the 15th August, 1578.
Your lordship's, as I am bounden,

^^E. Lennox."*

Every effort, however, was in vain. James
was as rapacious about the earldom and lands of
Lennox, in Scotland, as Elizabeth about the
lands in England, for which, nevertheless, James
kept up a ceaseless clamour till the Queen's death.
Arabella was deprived of the earldom, which was
•ElUs's "Letters."

56 Life and Letters of [1581.

first given to Robert, Earl of Caitlmess, who
soon after resigned it into the King^s hands in
favour of his favourite, Esme Stewart, Lord
D^Aubigny, whom, in 1581, he created Duke of
Lennox.*

And thus was the hapless orphan stripped of
all that could accrue to her from the lands of
Mathew, of Charles, and the wiU of Margaret,
and thrown on the bounty of her maternal
relatives.

Queen Elizabeth, however, a little moved at
the forlorn condition of Arabella, consented to
allow her mother £400 and Arabella £200 a
year out of the sequestered lands of the Coimtess
Margaret. The £400 to the young countess was
dependent on the life of Arabella, and was to
cease at her death, which led to a remonstrance
on the part of the Earl of Shrewsbury, that it
might, under all conditions, be continued during
the sequestration of the property of Margaret.
Earl George also presented the modest petition
that, seeing how small a portion £600 a year
was to maintain Arabella and her mother, with
"that countenance appertaining to her degree
and qualities,^' the countess might have, infann^
the possessions of the Lady Margaret towards
their better maintenance, paying to the Queen

• State Papers, Eeign of Eliz., Dom., xlv; MS.

i58i2.] Lady Arabella Stuart 57

the accustomed rent. As an inducement to this
bargain^ he pointed out how much better care
the Countess Elizabeth would take of the house
and timber of the estate than any stranger to
whom it could be let, and promised a bond and
securities for the fulfilment of her part of the
agreement.

But the business schemes of the poor young
countess were soon brought to a close. On the
21st of January, 1582, after a short sickness, she
followed her husband to the grave, and Arabella,
at the age of seven, was left- bereft of both her
parents. The following letters from Earl George
give a pathetic account of the last hours of the
gentlest and best beloved of all the daughters of
Bess. The few glimpses we catch of her present
her in an amiable light, and the afiection she in-
spired in those around her adds to the interest
chiefly awakened in her as the mother of Arabella
Stuart: —

The Earl of Shrewsbury to Lord Burghley.*

^^ My very good Lords, — ^It hath pleased God
to call to his mercy, out of this transitory world, ,
my daughter Lennox, this present Sunday, being
the 21st of January, about three of the clock in
the morning.

* Lansdowne MSS. xxxiv. fol. 1.

58 Life and Letters of [1582.

" Both towards God and the world she made a
most godly and good end, and was in most per-
fect memory all the time of her sickness, even
to this last hour. Sundry times did she make
her most earnest and humble prayer to the
Almighty for her Majesty^s most happy estate,
and the long and prosperous continuance thereof,
and, as one most infinitely bound to her high-
ness, humbly and lowly beseeched her Majesty to
have pity upon her poor orphan, Arabella Stuart,
and, as at all times heretofore, both the mother
and poor daughter was most infinitely bound to
her Highness, so her assured trust was that her
Majesty would continue the same accustomed
goodness and bounty to her child she left ; and
of this her suit and humble petition, my said
daughter Lennox, by her last will and testament,
requireth both your lordships (to whom she
found and acknowledged herself always most
bound), in her name, most lowly to make this
humble petition to her Majesty, and to present
with all humility unto her Majesty a poor remem-
brance (delivered by my daughter's own hands),
.which very shortly wiU be sent, with my daughter's
humble prayer for her Highnesses most happy
estate, and most lowly beseeching her Highness
in such sort to accept thereof, as it pleased the
Almighty to receive the poor widow's mite.

158a.] Lady Arabella Stuart 59

" My wife taketh my daughter Lennox's death
so grievously that she neither doth nor can think
of anything but of lamenting and weeping,

" I thought it my part to signify to both your
lordships in what sort God hath called her to his
mercy, which I beseech you make known to her
Majesty, and thus, with my very hearty com-
mendations to both your good lordships, I cease.

^^ Sheffield Manor, this 21st of January

(1581-82).

" Your lordship's assured,

"G. Shrewsbury.

" To the Right Honourahle my very good Lords,
my Lord Burghlej, aiid my very good Lord and
Cousin the Eai-1 of Leicester, of Her Majesty's
Moat Honourable Privy Council."

The Earl of Shrewsbury to Sir Francis WaUingham,^

'' Good Mr. Secretary, — It hath pleased God
to call to his mercy my daughter Lennox out of
this frail world, who departed the same this
Sunday, about three of the clock in the morning,
with a good and godly mind, to God and the
world. Thus much have I signified to my very
good and honourable friends, the Lord Treasurer
and* my Lord of Leicester and Mr. Vice-Cham-
berlain, and thought likewise to signify the
same to you, to whom my daughter in her life,
* State Papers, Eliz., Dom., clii. fol. 9, MS.

60 Life and Lettei'S of [i58:z,

and her infant^ the Lady Arabella Stuart, hath
been very much bound. I pray you so now, like
a good Mend, after her death, be you a mean
to her Majesty to present my daughter Lennox's
humble and lowly thanks to her Majesty, wit^i her
prayer for the long and happy estate of her Majesty.
And for her Majesty's goodness at all times ex-
tended towards her and her poor orphan, who now
is left altogether destitute, which might have
greatly increased my daughter's grief if she had
not had a most assured trust of her Majesty's most
bountiful goodness and great compassion to all
who stand in need of help and comfort.

" The poor mother, my wife, takes my
daughter's death so grievously, and so moumeth
and lamenteth that she cannot think of aught
but tears, and therefore the rather I thought
good to signify thus much unto you, and request
your favour in this sort. And so, with my very
hearty commendations to you, I cease.

'^From my Manor House at Sheffield, this
Sunday, being the 21st of January.
" Your assured loving friend,

"G. Shbewsbury.''

Elizabeth Lennox was buried in the family
vault of the Earls of Shrewsbury at Sheffield.
The death of her mother left Arabella again

158a.] Lady Arabella Stuart 61

in a state of uncertainty regarding her income.
The conduct of the Queen at the death of Charles
Lennox had not been such as to inspire any great
hopes in Arabella's favour, and new fears awoke
concerning the continuance of the royal grant of
six hundred a-year.

Bess was resolved that her grandchild should
be brought up in a manner becoming her royal
blood, and was anxious that the necessity for
this should be acknowledged by the Queen,
and the allowance continued in order to pay
the increasing expense of her education.
For this purpose she wrote the following
letters.

The Countess of Shrewsbury to Sir Francis
Walsingham.^

"My Honorable Good Friend, — You under-
stand by my lord's former letters how it hath
pleased God to take from me my daughter Len-
nox, to whose Divine Majesty I must submit
myself and all mine as it pleaseth him to dispose
of us. Your wonted favour and honorable
dealings shewed to me, hath made me now resort
unto you as to my approved good friend. My
assured trust is that her Majesty of her ac-
customed gracious goodness towards me will let

• State Papers, Eliz., Dom., ii. fol. 13, MS.

62 Life and Letters of [158a.

the same portion it pleased her to bestow on my
daughter Lennox and my jewel Arbella to go
to the child for her better education and training
up in all good virtue and learning, and so she
may the sooner be ready to attend on her
Majesty. The child now growing into more
years shall stand in more need of more servants
and teachers, I nothing doubt, but upon good
mediation, her Majesty will think this portion
little nought for the child. And thus, good
Mr. Secretary, beseeching your accustomed
friendly care to recommend this my suit and
petition to her Majesty, and that you will give
my son William Cavendish leave to attend
on you from time to tim^ to know your
good pleasure, I cfease'r-^Sheffield, the 28th of
January. Your assured loving firiend,

"E. Shrewsbury.^'

The Countess of Shrewsbury to Sir Francis
Walsingham,^

"Good Mr. Secretary, — With my right hearty
commendations, I pray you take in good part
my like desire that it will please you to prefer
my humble suit unto the Queen's Majesty in the
behalf of a poor infant, my jewel Arbella, who ^

is to depend wholly upon her Majesty's bounty
♦ State Papers, Eliz., Dom., cliii. fol. 39, MS.

ijSij.] Lady Arabella Stuart 63

and goodness, being in her tender age deprived
of her parents, whose late mother in her extreme
sickness, and even at the approaching of her end
(which I cannot without great grief remember),
did most earnestly sundry times recommend to
her Majesty's gracious goodness and favour that
poor infant her only care, with hearty desire
and confidence that her Majesty might enjoy a
long and prosperous reign, and be a gracious
patroii and sovereign to that her innocent child,
as her Majesty hath hitherto been to them both,
and for as much as the four hundred pounds
yearly granted to my lady daughter is by her
death at the Queen's Majesty's disposition, my
humble suit is that her Highness, whose manifold
gracious favours and bounty have so much bound
me as no subject can be more to a most worthy
sovereign, will vouchsafe to grant the same four
himdred pounds to Arbella, for her maintenance
during her minority, which is but for a few
years, whereof I doubt not but her Majesty
will favourably accept as hitherto she hath done
of all my suits, and consider that her bringing
up every way as appertaineth and so as she may
be able the sooner in service to attend upon her
Majesty (which I chiefly desire), will hardly be
performed with six hundred pounds yearly in
money, and more commodity is not to be made

64 Life and Letters oj [158^2.

of the lands, being as they are in lease. I do
not like she should be now here as she was with
her mother in her life-time, neither can I be
contented she be in any place where I may
not some time see her and daily ,hear of her
well-doing, and therefore at great charges to
keep her in house with such as are fit to attend
upon her and be in her company, and being
near well towards seven years old, she is of very
great towardness to learn anything, and t very
careful of her good education, as if she were
my own and only child, and a great deal more
for the consanguinity she is of to her Majesty,
whose happy reign over us I daily with the most
zealous mind pray the Almighty Governor of all
things long to continue. And now craving most
heartily your friendship in moving this suit to
her Majesty, I refer the same to your wisdom,
being better able to consider thereof than I am
at this present, who cannot so soon enter into
any thought of this cause but that I am over-
charged with grief, and so make an end of this
my inconsiderate letter, trusting her highness
will accept of my loyal duty and service, which
I desire you will commend unto her royal
Majesty. — Sheffield, this 6th of May.

^' Your loving friend,

"E. Sheewsbury.'*

1582.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 65

Bess also besought Lord Burghley to intercede
with the Queen to continue the whole grant of
six hundred pounds, previously divided between
mother and child, to be now continued to Ara-
bella alone, on account of the increasing ex-
penses of her education; and repeated that it
was necessary that, though not always with her,
stiU Arabella ought to be in some place where
she could see her sometimes, and daily hear of
her. Her care of Arabella, she repeated, was not
only ^^ such as a natural mother hath of her best
beloved child, but much greater, on account of
her relationship to the Queen/'

The appeal, was powerless. The £400 was
withdrawn, and only £200 a-year, out of the
sequestered property, was allowed to the rightful
heiress.

Arabella was now seven years old, quick at
learning, and retentive of what she acquired.
Sir Walter Mildmay, writing of her in 1588,
declares her to be very pretty, and thinks that
she will resemble her grandmother Lennox.*
The quick-witted child made so pleasant an im-
pression on Sir Walter, who was then on a visit
to the Earl of Shrewsbury, charged with business
concerning the Queen of Scots, that he begged
her to write a letter to Queen Elizabeth. The

* State Papers, Eliz.,Dom., MS.
VOL. I. f

66 Life and Letters of [1582.

'^little lady/' as Mildmay calls her, willingly
complied, desiring him to give her letter to the
Queen, and say that ^^ her humble prayer is for
her Majesty/' a message that Mildmay sent with
the letter to Walsingham, begging him to give
it to the Queen.

The letter is no longer in existence, or has
not been discovered, but if written undictated
by the elders of the little scribe, there is little
doubt that it was weU worth the perusal of
Elizabeth, and bore the stamp of originality,
which was one of the distinguishing features of
Arabella.

Already the child was the subject of matri-
monial speculations. The first serious project
was formed by the Earl of Leicester, who, with
the full approbation of Bess, designed to marry
Arabella to his only son, the little Lord Denbigh.
The children were told of this plan, and even their
portraitis were sent to each other. The likeness
of Arabella already described, with a doll in her
hand, was probably the one sent to the little lord.
The scheme, though managed with caution, got
abroad, probably by means of Mauvissiere, who
received the news from Mary, Queen of Scots,*
by whom he was instructed to convey it to
Elizabeth.

• Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots.

1582.] Lady Arabella Stuart 67

On the 4th of March, Lord Paget nrrites to the
Earl of Northumberland : — ^^ A friend in office
is verie desirous that the Queen should have light
given her of the practice between Leycester and
the Countess for Arbella, for it comes on very
lustily, insomuch as the said earl hath sent down
the picture of his babie/'* Lord Denbigh was the
son of Lettice KnoUys, and, to judge by Leices-
ter's letters, much beloved by his father, who
soon felt the effects of his schemes for his son in
the altered manner of the Queen and Court, f
and a cloud gathered over him, which was only
dispersed by the sudden illness and death of the
little lord, "his only little son,^' as Leicester
calls him. Lord Denbigh died in July, 1584,
at Wanstead, at the age of three years. He
lies buried in the Collegiate Church of Warwick,
where the inscription on an altar monument near
to that of his father declares that there " resteth
the body of the noble imp, Robert Dudley,
Baron of Denbigh, a child of great hope and to-
wardness, taken firom this transitory life unto the
everlasting life, and in this place laid up among
his ancestors, in assured hope of the general
resurrection.''

♦ Unpublished Talbot Papers,
f Mr. Davison to the Earl of Leicester. — State Papers,
Scotch Series, 36, MS.

F 2

68 Life and Letters of [1582.

Allusion is also made to Lord Denbigli in the
doggerel libel on his father, published during his
life, entitled ^^ Leicester's Ghost */' —

" First I assayed Queene Elizabeth to wed.
Whom divers princes courted, but in vaine ;
When in the course unhtckily I sped,
I sought the Scots* Queene's mariage to obtaine;
But when I reapt no profit for my paine,
I sought to match Denbigh, my tender childe.
To Dame Arbella, but I was beguiled.

** Even as Octavius with Marke Antony
And Lepidus the Roman empire shared.
That of the world these held the sovereignty.
So I a new triumvirate prepared.
If Death awhile yong Denbigh*8 life had spar'd.
The grandame, uncle, and the father-in-law,
Might thus have brought all England under awe/'

The first plan of betrothal being thus com-
pletely broken, Leicester soon regained the favour
of the Queen, and Arabella continued her educa-
tion and passed her life in the usual manner of
a girl belonging to one of the highest families
in the realm, with this exception, that, on account
of her royal blood, she was frequently brought
forward and permitted to share the company of
her elders, where another would have been kept
in the retirement suitable to her age.

A glance at her home and occupations may
aot be unacceptable to the reader.

1584.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 69

CHAPTER IV.

THE HOME OP ARABELLA STUART.

|HE reign of Queen Elizabeth was, among
other things, marked also by a new style
of architecture. The decreasing power of
the nobles, and the closer drawing together of the
higher and lower classes, were especially notable
by the decay of the castles that for so many
centuries had frowned over the land. New
dwellings were built in which more attention was
paid to beauty and comfort than to strength;
and which, if less picturesque than the old
castles, were also less suggestive of civil war and
siege. Hardwick Hall, the greatest architec-
tural triumph of Bess of Hardwick, affords one of
the best examples of the latest habitations of the
nobility in the reign of Elizabeth ; and though
it was probably in the old Hall, or at Chatsworth,
that Arabella passed most of her earliest child-
hood, both of those as well as the castle of Shef-
field being destroyed, it is from the present
building that we shall obtain the nearest idea of
her home.

70 Life and Letters of [i5?4-

Hardwick Hall is built of stone, and is of
square shape, with turrets at the comers. Round
the top runs a parapet of stone, in which the
initials of Bess, " E. S.,'^ are wrought in various
places. Lofty state apartments, lighted with nu-
merous transom windows, and hung with gor-
geous tapestry, still remain, as if awaiting the
promised visit of Queen Elizabeth. The room
of audience is sixty-four feet nine inches by
thirty-three feet, and twenty-six feet four inches
high. The walls are covered with magnificent
tapestry, representing the story of Ulysses, and
over this are figures in plaster representing Diana
and her attendant nymphs. In a wide recess
at one end stands a large bedstead, elaborately
carved and adorned with heavy velvet hangings,
thickly embroidered with gold. At the upper
end of the room is a canopy of state, formed of
rich black velvet embroidered with various figures
of lords and ladies dressed in the costume of the
time of Elizabeth, and surrounded with lesser
details, as animals, shrubs, &c. ; and in the in-
side are worked the arms of the founder of the
house. Grold-embroidered velvet and satin-
covered chairs, with carven frames, a costly table
of inlaid wood, a splendid looking-glass in a carven
frame, and a magnificent marble chimney-piece,
complete the furniture of this noble apartment.

1584-] Lady Arabella Stuart ?!

Doors covered with tapestry softly open into a
far more interesting scene. This is the picture-
gallery, a hundred and seventy feet long, twenty-
three feet wide, and twenty-six feet high. Ten
immense diamond-paned windows light up the
treasures within, and recall the saying, that

"HardwickeHall
Has more glass than wall."

Here may be seen portraits from life of Queen
Elizabeth, Lady Jane Grey, Sir Thomas More,
Cardinal Pole, Bishop Gardiner, Lord Burghley,
James I. as a child, Mary, Queen of Scots,
the three last husbands of Bess : Sir William
Cavendish, Sir William Saintlow, and George
Earl of Shrewsbury. There, too, in a black dress
and ruff and thick veil, her false red hair covered
with a small black cap, and her neck adorned with
a chain of pearls — ^in size and number " worth a
king's ransom'^ — ^may be seen the indomitable
Bess, her character well indicated in the ex-
pression of her countenance.

Like the audience-chamber, the gallery is
adorned with a canopy of velvet, marble chimney-
pieces, and chairs, stools, &c., covered with the
richest embroidery.

The rest of the house is in accordance with
these rooms, and the amount of tapestry and
embroidery bears witness to the skill and industry

72 Life and Letters of [15841

of the embroiderers, who formed a part of every
nobleman^s household.

Let us suppose a day at old Hardwick Hall
during the early youth of Arabella Stuart.

The bed-room of Arabella is lighted by a lofty
window, looking out on the front garden of the
Hall. The walls are covered with Gobelin
tapestry, representing Cupids guiding a boat
through the waters, and followed by attendants
garlanded with ivy and oak, who accompany
the little bark with the sounds of the trumpet
and flute. On the marble chimney-piece rest
two talbots supporting the shield of Shrewsbury,
and round the room are ranged high-backed chairs
covered with embroidery, with embroidered stools
at their feet. At one end of the room is a
Venetian looking-glass set in silver, and at the
other a Flanders^ chest, and a cupboard of
cypress-wood. On a beaufet stands a silver can-
dlestick, and on a table, covered with an em-
broidered cloth, lies a book — ^perhaps a volume
of Plato.

The bed is decked with white drapery, worked
in crimson and green, hanging over a heavy
carven frame, and by the side is a footstool
adorned with needlework. The luxurious feather
cushions and pillows are covered with snow-
white linen and white woollen blankets, and

1584.] Ladj Arabella Stuart. 78

oyer all is a counterpane of white and crimson

silk.

There, summoned by her tiring -maiden, who is

dressed

" In petticoat of flannel red,
And milk-white kerchief on her head
Her smock-sleeves like to winter snow.
That on the western mountains flow.
And each sleeve with a silken band
Fairly tied at the hand,"

Arabella rises, and, with the assistance of her
tiring-maiden, performs her morning toilet.

At seven o'clock her breakfast is served her in
her bedchamber, and consists of half a loaf
of household bread, a manchet or loaf of the
finest flour, a quart of ale, a chicken or some
broiled mutton bones. Of this substantial array,
Arabella takes her portion, and the remainder is
given to her chief servant. If it be a fish
day, the mutton and chicken are replaced
by a piece of salt stock-fish, a dish of sprats,
or three fi-esh white herrings, and a dish of
butter.

The breakfast over, the clanging tones' of a
bell summon the household to prayers in the
Hall chapel. A quarter of an hour is allowed to
lock the great gates, and carry the forms and
cushions to the chapel, when prayers are said by
the chaplain, and the household then disperse to

74 Life and Letters of [1584.

their several duties for the day. The countess
goes to superintend the maids, the earl to cast
up accounts and give directions for the provision
of his retainers, and see that his steward has
obeyed all orders punctually; to survey his
grounds and perform in person most of the work
that is executed by a steward in these days.
The young men exercise themselves in arms and
athletic exercises in the tilt-yard, and Arabella,
with her attendants, betakes herself to a separate
apartment to pursue her studies. Languages
form the chief — Latin being an especial object —
but French, Italian, and Spanish are also taught
her, grammatically and conversationally. She
must get herself well up in the Greek Testa-
ment, and study Plato in the original, as
much for the philosophy as the language, for
in that time ^^ great number of noble women
in England were given to the studie of human
sciences and of strange tongues. It was a com-
mon thyng to see young virgins, so nbuzled and
trained to the study of letters, that thei wyl-
lyngly set aU other vain pastymes at naught
for leamyng's sake. It was no news at all to see
queens and ladies of most high estate and pro-
:genie instede of courtly daliaunce to embrace
virtuous exercises, readyng and writing, and with
.most earnest studie both erlye and late, to apply

1584-] Lady Arabella Stuart. 75

themselves to the acquirynge of knowledge, as
well as all other Hberal arts and disciplines^ as also
most specially of God and his most holy writ/'
Arabella's tutor in these things is a converted
Roman Catholic priest, who receives probably
ten pounds a-year and his board for teaching a
princess of the blood royal, a sum whose mean-
ness he trusts to be compensated in the shape
of an annuity when Arabella's education shall
be finished. Then come lessons on the lute
and virginals, and, not the least important, spin-
ning and embroidery ; and lastly, the pupil goes
to the steward's region to learn ^' physick,''
surgery, confectionery, and "herbs" — ^the four
last probably under the superintendence of her
grandmother Bess.

The morning passes rapidly, for every one in
the household is busily engaged, and by eleven
o'clock the dinner is ready in the great hall.
The hall is the largest apartment in the house,
for there it is that all daily meet. Heavy suits
of armour hang round the walls, burnished corse-
lets and gaping helmets, coats of mail, shields,
lances, pikes, maces, halberds and muskets. A
large gallery at the end is filled with musicians, who
begin to tune the viol, sackbut, harp, and cornet.
At another end is placed a magnificent side-
board or beaufet of carven walnut-wood, laden

76 Life and Letters of [1584.

with gpld and silver vessels, and crystal goblets,
adorned with jewels, and moulded in fantastic
forms of birds and beasts. At the upper end of
the hall is the oreille, a recess containing two
tables, three more being placed in the centre of
the hall. The tables are covered with " faire
whyte naperie,'' and in the middle of each stands
a huge salt-cellar, to divide the table according
to the rank of the guests. In the oreUle, the
plates are of silver ; but at the other tables,
trenchers serve for their purpose, a white linen
serviette beiag laid by each trencher and dish.
In the oreille, high stools with cushions
richly embroidered are placed at the tables, and
in the body of the hall long forms of wainscot-
wood are ranged. When all is ready, the great
gates are shut, the bell is rung, and in procession
the mighty household majestically enters the
hall. Two maitres-dTiotel lead the way, followed
by the host and hostess and the guests. The
Earl of Shrewsbury in a black velvet doublet,
ornamented with ruff and some costly jewels,
velvet slips, silk stockings, and large rosettes on
his shoes of Spanish leather, his face aged with
anxiety and fretfulness, his peaked beard silvered
more with care than years, leads by the hand the
haughty Bess, whose keen, well-preserved face
manifests but little sympathy with the sorrows

1584.] Lady Arabella Stuart 77

of her consort. Her dark dress of cramasie
is close at the neck, the peaked bodice fits close
to her form, and the sleeves fall gathered at the
wrist. A fardingal distends the skirt, that, caught
beneath the waist in a double fold, hangs over
her high-heeled shoes ; rich jewels adorn her
dress, and a lace ruff, starched by a pupil of Mrs.
Dinghem Van Plasse, encircles her neck. Then
follows Arabella, who, though the youngest of the
party, takes precedence of all on account of her
royal blood. She wears a white dress, edged
with black, ornamented with jewels placed at
intervals down the front, the bodice cut in the
square German fashion of the present day, cover-
ing her shoulders, but leaving her neck bare.
The fiill sleeves are gathered in at the wrist, and
turned back with a lace cuff. A pearl chain of
great beauty and value is twisted many times
round her neck, pearl bracelets clasp her wrists,
a pearl drop hangs from her hair, and pearl pen-
dants droop from her ears. Her hair of the
prevailing auburn colour is raised high above her
head, and falls in long crisped locks over her
shoulders. Then come the Cavendishes, the
children of Bess, and the Talbots, the descend-
ants of Shrewsbury, and the noblest of the guests
of the hospitable Hall. Perhaps Leicester, with
his inanly beauty, and false, treacherous, cowardly

78 Life and Letters of [1584.

heart, has just been whispering contemptuous
words of his infatuated mistress to the scornful
Bess, whom he much more admires, and
to whom he feels far more akin than to the
Queen, for Bess, like himself, is wholly selfish
and worldly, while Elizabeth has deep, romantic
feelings, and a heart that in its worst moments
has many noble sentiments and powers of self-
sacrifice, albeit they sleep awhile. Or Sir Walter
Mildmay admires the intelligence of the young
Arabella, whom he has just reminded, playfully,
of her childish letter to the Queen, written at his
request, and receives a witty answer to his
keenest joke. Or Robert Cecil ponders silently
on all he has heard and seen, and speculates to
himself on the political position of the grand-
daughter of his hostess.

All these proceed to the oreille and take their
seats at the first table, and as soon as they are
seated, the steward of the hall retires with the
maitres-dTidtel, having first shown the guests to
their seats.

Then come the Knights and Honourable Gen-
tlemen, who take their seats at the second table
in the oreille. They are followed by the Steward,
the Comptroller, the Secretary, the Master of the
horse, the Master of the fish-ponds, Arabella's
tutor, and all guests beneath the rank of Knight

1584.] Lady Arabella Stitart 79

and Honourable — and these take their places at
the first table in the hall.

Next come the Sewer, the Gentlemen Waiters,
and Pages, who place themselves at the second
table of the hall.

Lastly, the procession closes with the Clerk of
the Kitchen, the Yeomen Officers of the house,
the Grooms of the Chamber, and the rest of the
servants, all placed above or below the salt,
according to their rank, and every one in his
appointed place ; and " if any unworthy fellow do
unmannerly sett himself down before his betters,
he must be taken up and placed lower.^^

Silver ewers and basins with rose-water and
perfumes are then handed round, and the guests
having washed their hands and dried them on
serviettes of perfumed damask, the usher enters,
and his cry, " By your leave, my masters,^' is the
signal for the first course.

The musicians strike up ; and, amid the sound
of sackbut, comet, violin, and recorders, are borne
to the first table in the oreille the viands which
have been cooked by a " musicall-headed French-
man^^ and his subalterns. Mighty joints of beef,
mutton, and veal, boiled and roast, are accom-
panied by veal-pies, capons, blackcocks, chickens,
plovers, partridges, with two diflPerent kinds of
bread, the delicate marchpane and the coarser

80 Life and Letters of [1584.

cheate, and a few potatoes, for vegetables are
almost unknown in England, and form no regular
part of the bill of fare. The first in rank are
served, and the dishes are then pasRed down in
gradation to the lower tables, the last remains
being reserved for the poor, who every day await
this benevolence at the outer gate. The second
course is ushered in in like manner, and is still
more plentiful and luxurious — ^roast swans, veni-
son, pheasants, pullets, snipes, teal, pigeons, and
pastry. The third course is distinguished by the
richness of the sweets ; jellies in the shape of
animals, trees, houses, &x;., a ^^subtilty^' or
elaborate piece of sugar-work representing, per-
haps, a fortress in miniature ; ^^ tarts of divers
hues and sundry denominations,'^ conserves of
English and foreign fruiis, gingerbread, mar-
malade, and comfits in endless variety. The
beverages consist of ale and mead, and many
kinds of wines of all countries served in silver
tankards or fine Venetian glasses. The waiters
at the earPs table are gentlemen of high birth,
even the younger sons of noblemen, who are
placed there to learn domestic customs, and all
the intricate arrangements of a large household.
Ushers, marshals, cupbearers, are all of rank,
and without the perfect insight into domestic,
manners that they thus practically obtain, they

1584.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 81

would be utterly at the mercy of their depen-
dants^ and unable to maintain in order the
hundred retainers that may hereafter eat and
drink and be clothed at their expense^ when they
themselves become the heads of families.

Profound silence is observed during dinner,
*^for it is the greatest part of civility/' save
when some one arises^ and ^^ first uncovering his
head, he takes a full cup in his hand, and setting
his countenance with a grave aspect, he craves
for audience. Silence being once obtained, he
begins to breathe out the name, peradventure, of
some honorable personage, whose health is drunk
to, and he that pledges must likewise off with
his cap, kiss his fingers, and bow himself in sign
of a reverent acceptance. And thus the first
scene is acted. The cup being newly replenished
to the breadth of a hair, he that is the pledger
must now begin his part, and thus it goes round
throughout the whole company .^^

The banquet over, the guests again wash their
hands in rose-water ; and, leaving the gentlemen
to their wine, as in the present day, the ladies
retire to amuse themselves with backgammon,
cards, ninepins, bowls, and, undoubtedly, the
scandal of Queen Elizabeth's Court.

When the gentlemen have contented them-
selves with wine well spiced, perhaps the whole

VOL. I. o

82 Life and Letters of [1584. ^

company go on a hawking or hunting expedition,

or engage in a trial of skill at archery, or, if the ^

company be very numerous and of high rank,

a bull or bear may be baited to death for their ^

amusement, the fair ladies enjoying it quite as

much as the Spanish beauties of the present day.

At seven o^clock, supper is served in the great ^

hall, and resembles the dinner on a much smaller
scale. After supper the company amuse them- ^

selves with dancing, chess, draughts, dice, qui \

feray (hot cockles), or tiers (blindman^s buff),
and other games, now numbered only among the . ^

sports of young children. At ten, the bell sum-
mons to the chapel. Prayers are said by the ^
chaplain, and the household separates for the night.

A large portion of the day was thus devoted j

to amusements, which, however, will seem less *

if we remember that in those days fashionable
persons had not the resources for wasting time ,

that enables the present generation to kill so *

much of their heavy burden. In those days,
ladies rose many hours earlier than now; they ''^

had no shopping to do, no morning calls to make,
no morning concerts or lectures to attend, no
Polytechnic, or Crystal Palace, or bazaar, or ]

missionary meetings, or tract societies, or novels |

wherewith to occupy themselves. But still, then,
as now, there were some who found excitement

1584.] Lady Arabella Stuart 83

more wearisome than work, and gladly stole some
quiet hours to enjoy the calm companionship of
the scanty literature that lay within their reach.
Such was Lady Jane Grey, who, while her
father and mother and the rest of the house-
hold were hunting in the park, found more de-
light in sitting alone in her chamber and reading
the Phsedo of Plato ; and later on we shall find
Arabella Stuart speaking with impatience of the
*' everlasting hunting^' by which, perforce, she
was dragged from studies in which she found
far greater pleasure.

But the gorgeous home of Arabella had long
been the scene of the utmost misery. During
the first years of his last marriage, the Earl of
Shrewsbury had been as deeply enamoured of
Bess as any of his predecessors. But for some
time this had all come to an end. That the
fault was mutual, the letters existing between the
two parties abundantly prove. Bess could not
suit herself to any one. Her former husbands
had been men of gay spirits, who led easy lives,
and did not require much besides cheerfulness in
a wife. But Shrewsbury, as the responsible
gaoler of Mary, Queen of Scots, was loaded with
heavy cares of every kind. He was a great loser
in a pecuniary sense by his charge, while his
constant anxieties were enough to render a

G 2

84 Life and Letters of [1584.

better-tempered man iretfal and unreasonable.
No doubt Bess had hard trials. But then they
were just the things she disliked. She was the
last woman in the world to share voluntarily a
failure, a mortification, a petty harassing care.
She was the very one to tell the suflPerer hard
truths in a hard manner — ^to point out, when too
late, how difficulties might have been avoided,
how success might have been obtained, and
appropriating to herself the hard-bought expe-
rience of the victim, launch it forth as inborn
wisdom of her own. No pity for the errors oi a
weaker nature, no tears for the fall of a noble
soul, ever troubled her. Success in material things
was the goal of her ambition, and any one who
failed in that would have been deluded indeed in
looking to her for sympathy. The failure of
Shrewsbury, as regarded all emolument from the
care of his royal prisoner, and the consequent
embarrassment of his worldly affairs, were almost
certain to impart a bitter tone to Bess. Spiteful
words on the subject of the captive queen added
to the gall created by money difficulties, and all
mutual consideration soon became lost.

The love of Shrewsbury for his wife turned to
deadly hatred and disgust. Bess threw off her
mask, and, like most worldly women as they
draw towards old age, she stood confessed in her

1584*] Lady Arabella Stuart 85

real deformity. The families of Cavendish and
Talbot were also at variance, and, strange to say,
Gilbert Talbot, the Earl's eldest son, sided with
Bess, while her youngest son, Henry Cavendish,
took part with the Earl. Henry was immediately
ejected from Chatsworth, and Bess transported
all the best part of the furniture to Hardwick,
placing her two sons, William and Charles,
in possession of the dismantled house; but as
Henry Cavendish had married the EarFs daughter,
Shrewsbury declared his intention of seizing
Chatsworth.*

Accordingly, on the 28th of July, 1584, at two
in the afternoon, the Earl, with forty horsemen,
rode off from his castle at ShefiObeld, and arriving
at the gates of Chatsworth, demanded admit-
tance, declaring the house was his, and the goods
that had been taken away were his property.
William and Henry Cavendish both refused him
entrance, adding, however, that, if he treated
their lady mother well, they would yield it to him.f
But Shrewsbury was now as infatuated with his
hatred as he had formerly been with his love for
Bess, and seemed bent on ruining her, regardless of

♦ Letter of the Earl of Shrewsbury.— State Papers, Eliz.,
Dom., ccvii. MS.

t Declaration of George fe^argell. — State Papers, Eliz.,
Dom., ccvii. fol. 32, MS.

86 Life and Letters of [1584*

her rights ; and he answered furiously " that he
would come in, and that, if no other waie, he
would famish them out/^ They replied that, at his
marriage with Bess, he had conferred Chatsworth
on them with his own hand and seal, and they
positively refused to admit him. The Earl, j

conscious of some truth in their words, and also
that the fascinations of Bess had procured her
high friends at Court, turned back, and, instead of
forcing an entrance, as he had threatened, he rode
home and drew up a set of ^^ remembrances to be J

laid before the Queen/^ In these remembrances "j

he admitted that he ^^ did make a deed of gift to j

Charles and William Cavendish of my liberalitie |

to the only use and behoof of my wife, and not ,

to the use or benefit of Charles or William j

Cavendish/^ Two most extraordinary provisions,
he says, are in the deed. The first is, that for
ten shillings he and his wife may revoke the deed ;
the second is, that the two Cavendishes should
do nothing without the license and consent of his
wife, their disobedience to her rendering the
deed null and void. But then, says poor Shrews-
bury, "in my wife having all referred to her
disposition, I thought that she would use it as
became a wife. She hath since, contrary to my
meaning, appointed all to the benefit of her two
younger sons, and excludeis me wholly from all.

1584.] Lady Arabella Stuart 87

and seeking to recompense my liberality with
spite and disdain^ she hath animated her sou
William Cavendish with weapons to deny me a
night's lodging in Chatsworth, and to give me very
hard language, greatly to my dishonour. So, as
my wife having abused her duty towards me, and
deceived the trust I committed to her, seeking to
prefer the private profit of her sons by sinister
practices to my dishonour, she deserveth no longer
to have any part of my liberality.

" It were no reason that my wife and her
servants should rule me, and make me the wife
and her the husband.'^*

Bess, however, in her palmy days had made
too sure a bargain for the Earl to retract now,
and after numerous letters to the Queen and
Walsingham, the Earl offered to compromise
matters by a legal separation — ^he to receive
the whole property, and out of it to allow the
Countess Chatsworth House, £1500 a-year during
her life, and a due possession of the lands to her
children at his death.

But, strange to say, the person who disapproved
of the separation was the Queen. In the case of
Bess, she seems to have laid aside her prejudices
against matrimony, and ordained, to Shrewsbury's
disgust —

* State Papers, Eliz., Dom., ccvii. fol. 33, MS.

88 Life and Letters of [1584.

^^ First, that the Earl shall take and receive the
said Countess, his wife, nnto him, and take pro-
bation of her obedience, and if he find her forget-
ftd of her duty unto him ia that time, then the
Earl to be at his liberty to place her in her
house at Chatsworth and leave her with her
liviQg assigned her by the Lord Chancellor and
the Earl of Leicester, according to her Majesty's
order set down by them/'

The Earl, on his part, was enjoined to behave
well and courteously, and defray all her necessary
expenses, to her degree and calling.

Bess seems to have been desirous of living
with her lord. She had no inclination to a
limited income, and perhaps dreamed of recover-
ing her lost sway over the immense domains of
Shrewsbury. But nothing could revive the
aflTection of the Earl. It had never been founded
on respect, and he proved that he could be quite
as spiteful and mean, and far more vindictive
than Bess herself. He wrote to Walsingham,
begging that Bess might be forbidden to come to
Court, ^^ as a woman not fit for that honourable
office.'' He declared himself ^^ ashamed to think
of his choice of such a creature, with so divelish
a disposition." He wanted her to refund all
that he had given her, even to the smallest
articles of household furniture, such as cups.

1584.] Lady Arabella Stuart 89

goblets, &c. ; and when, in obedience to the
Queen's command, which was certainly a very in-
judicious one, he was compelled to live with her,
he left no chance of improvement on her side
by the contemptible provocations he inflicted,
even stooping so low as to curtail her aUowance
of fire, and to meddle in the housekeeping in a
manner which in all ranks and ages has been
justly considered as placing a man below the
level of the lowest female domestic* The house-
hold, however, was still conducted on the most
formal and stately plan, and the house-books
in existencet still show such adnfirable order
and regularity, that the pecuniary diflBculties of
the Earl can in no way be charged to domestic
mismangement. In the presence of the guests
who frequented the HaU, the angry torrent was
sufficiently curbed to render a visit almost as
pleasant as ever. It was as a private home that
Hardwick was so miserable ; and child as she
was, we may well imagine Arabella already dream-
ing of escape, especially as we have seen that
her guardians had not thought her too young to
be awakened to the prospects of matrimony —
witness the exchange of pictures between her and

* Letter of Lady Shrewsbury. — State Papers, Eliz., Dom.,
ccvii. fol. 31, MS.

t Among the Harl. MSS.

90 Life and Letters of [1585. 1

her proposed husband — the " noble imp" — Lord J

Denbigh. 1

The failure of that plan by no means cooled
the zeal of her friends, who now took higher ^

aim. On the 25th of May, we find Walsingham
writing to Mr. Wotton, and instructing him to
" deal particularly with the King about his mar- ]

riage, and to recommend the King of Denmark^s
daughter or the Lady Arbella"^ Wotton, how-
ever, returned answer that the King was just then
not inclined to marry " one or other." Buck '^

and hare hunting were the only pleasures that he 1

cared for then, but when he wanted to choose
a wife he would certainly be guided by Wal- !

singham and Leicester.f This was probably an
act of deference on the part of James to Queen \

Elizabeth, whom he supposed to be the real '

maker of the offer on the part of Arabella, for we
find him at this very time as anxious as ever for
the Queen to acknowledge his title — an anxiety for
which she gave him ample cause. In 1586, she ^

promises him a yearly pension, and solemnly
swears ^^ on the inviolable word of a queen,"
never to do anything to prejudice his " pretended
title," and succession to her crown, " unless by |

his public misbehaviour and ingratitude wee be ^

• State Papers, Scotch Series, xxxvii. fol. 47, MS.
t Ibid, xxxix., MS.

1586.] Lady Arabella Stuart 91

justly moved to the contrary^^ — a clause that
left the matter entirely to her decision after all,
especially the words " pretended title/' an ex-
pression that gave the greatest alarm to James,
who immediately wrote begging her to expunge
the offensive word. Elizabeth replied by pro-
mising never to suffer anything impairing any
title he might have.* This, however, left the title
unspecified, the question of succession remaining
as open as ever; and so James drew up an in-
strument declaring himself to be Elizabeth's
successor, and sent it for her signature. The
Queen refused this, alleging that she found in the
document ^^many things comprised meeter to
pass between strange persons that sought assur-
ance of profit by force of proved writing than
by force of mutual kindness and reciprocal love,
out of which most properly all like varieties and
fruits of love do spring.''

And so the matter ended, leaving a canker in
the heart of James, while the innocent cause of
his jealousy was, in 1586, a third time put for-
ward as a candidate for matrimony. The bride-
groom proposed in this instance was Rainutio,
son of the Duke of Parma,t and one of the
claimants of the English crown. The matter,

* State Papers, Scotch Series, xl. fol. 4, MS.
t Ibid. xix. 108.

92 Life and Letters of [J5^7* ^

however, at this period, did not go beyond a dis-
cussion in secret, and for some reason was 1
dropped for the time, but only to be revived in
a more dangerous manner a few years later. «

Arabella, who probably looked on a husband
in the light of a new doll, bore her third disap- j

pointment with resignation. She continued to 1

justify the opinion of Sir Walter Mildmay. The
Queen took notice of her, and though she fre-
quently changed her residence, living now in
Derbyshire with Bess, or her Cavendish rela- ^

tions, and now with her aunt Mary Talbot, in '\

London, in Newgate Street or Chelsea, yet she
seems to have continued her studies in all places
alike, and to progress as fast as if she had re-
mained undisturbed at school. ^^ It is wonder-
fal,'' says Charles Cavendish, /^ how she profit-
eth in her book, and I believe she will dance with
exceeding good grace, and can behave herself with
great proportion to every one in their degree.^'*

Sometimes, she appears to have been left at
the town house of the Earl of Shrewsbury, in the
care of ladies appointed by her aunt, when the
latter was unable to remain in town with her
niece. The motive for leaving Arabella in town
was probably to keep her near the Queen, whO)

* Letter of Charles Cavendish in Miss Costello's " Memoirs
of Eminent Englishwomen."

1587.] Lady Arabella Stuart 93

it was hoped^ would take aa interest in her.
The following letter alludes to one of these visits
to the metropolis : —

Sir Henry Goodere to Mary Lucy Talbot.*

'^ Madam^ — I do understand by my mother
Rumbold^ that your ladyship hath had some
speech with her, touching your charge at Newgate
Street, and that it is your ladyship's pleasure I
should write unto you in what sort I might
(without any hindrance) be able to provide for
the diet of my Lady Arbella and the rest there
by your ladyship's appointment. And as I am
already assured of your ladyship's most honor-
able mind, that I should no way charge myself,
so am I most desirous to have your ladyship
hold that opinion of me, that I mean not to make
a gain by your ladyship in any such sort. And
therefore I have called myself a straight reckon-
ing, and find by my attempt that my house-
keeping doth stand me in five marks every week
now more then I spent before the ladies came to
Newgate Street, which I will leave to. your
own honorable consideration. And howsoever it
shall please your ladyship, I will be most ready

• Daughter of Sir William Cavendish and wife of Gilbert,
Lord Talbot, afterwards Earl of Shrewsbury.— -Sloane, MS.
4161, fol. 1.

94 Life and Letters of [1587. ^

to do you all the humble service I can. And J

so with my humble duty to your ladyship^ I ]

commit your honour to the Almighty. j

'' Newgate Street, this 10th of October, 1587. J

^' Your Ladyship^s most humbly at

commandment,

'' H. GooDERE.^' i

" My Lady Arbella (thanks be to God) is well
and in health with all the rest of the ladies, and
have been so ever since your ladyship saw '

them.

" To the Right Honorable, my very good Lady I

the Lady Talbot, at the Court."

The death of her aunt, Mary, Queen of Scots,
was the immediate cause of Arabella's presenta- 1

tion to Court. Cold-hearted as James had shown '

himself to his mother in her troubles, he pro-
fessed, at least, the utmost indignation at her
death, and vowed vengeance against the Queen
of England. Then, for the first time, the poli- J

tical significance of the existence of- his little
cousin was brought into bearing, and made a
weapon against the just anger of James. The *

partisans of Queen Elizabeth in Scotland ad- j

monished the King to recollect that he was now j

next heir to the English crown, and advised him 1

not to risk the forfeiture of succession by offend-

1587.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 95

ing the Queen of England. The English army
was reinforced on the marches, English gold was
plentifully distributed among the Scotch nobility ;
but the most powerful argument to silence James
consisted in inviting Arabella Stuart to Court,
and speaking of her in ambiguous terms as the
successor to the crown. The little girl of twelve
years was brought forward in public, took pre-
cedence of all the nobles, and was almost treated
as Princess Royal. One especial mark of grace
was conferred upon her — that of dining with the
great Queen.

Hentzner, an eye-witness, gives us a curious
account of the ceremony with which the royal
dinner was prepared : —

First, entered an usher with his rod, and with
him a gentleman carrying a table-cloth. Both
kneeled thrice, and then, spreading the table-
cloth, kneeled again and jetired. They were
followed by a second usher an^ a gentleman with
a salt-cellar, a plate, and bread, which were
placed upon the table with the same ceremony.
When the bearers had retired, there came an
unmarried lady, dressed in white silk, and bear-
ing a tasting-knife, who, after thrice kneeling,
rubbed the plates with bread and salt. Next
followed the yeomen of the guard, bare-headed,
and clothed in scarlet, with a golden rose on

96 Life and Letters of [^587.

their backs, and bearing twenty-four dishes
served in gilt plate. Three dishes were then
delivered, one by one, to a gentleman, who placed
them on the table, when the lady in white silk
gave each of the guards a mouthful out of the
dish that he had brought — a by no means unne-
cessary precaution against poison. During the
bringing in of these dishes, twelve trumpets and
two kettle-drums in the hall announced the im-
portant hour. When all was ready, a number of
unmarried ladies appeared, who, ^^with much
solemnity,^^ lifted the dishes from the table and
carried them into the Queen's inner apartment,
where she always dined alone, save a few attend-
ants, and after her Majesty had been served, the
dishes were carried out and dispensed to the
ladies of the Court.

The greatest mark of intimacy that Queen
Elizabeth could give was considered to be that of
permitting any one to dine with her in this inner
apartment. Even a foreign prince was not allowed
this extraordinary honour without much interest
and eflFort. Yet into this holy place was the
young Arabella admitted; she dined off the
sacred viands, and, after dinner, was introduced
by the Queen to the nobles and ambassadors who
were assembled in the next apartment. On one
of these occasions, Madame d'Aubespine de

1588.] Lady Arabdla Stuart 97

Ch&teauneuf, the wife of the French ambassa-
dor, was present.

She relates that after dinner, while the Queen
was standing snrronnded by a crowd of gentlemen,
her Majesty asked the ambassadress if she had seen
a little girl, her relation, who was there, and as
she spoke she called Arabella to her. Madame
de Chateauneuf immediately noticed and praised
the child, doubtless in all sincerity, for we hear
but one opinion of Arabella. She remarked
how well she spoke French, and said that she
appeared very sweet and gracious. '^Look
well at her,^' said the Queen, ''for she
is not so unimportant as you may think.
One day she will be even as I am, and wiQ
be Lady Mistress; but I shall have been
before her.^'

It is scarcely probable that Queen Elizabeth
had any real intention of appointing Arabella as
her successor; but she found it very useful to
keep a check on James by such speeches as these,
and it was probably in this light that the French
ambassador regarded them. He was much
pleased with Arabella, and describes her at this
time as having '' much understanding, speaking
Latin, French, and Italian well, sufficiently hand-
some in the face, and,^' he adds, ominously,

VOL. I. H

98 Life andr Letters of [1588. -i

^^ without doubt (she) would be the lawful in^

heritress of the crown, if James of Scotland were ' i

excluded as a foreigner/^ \

Lord Burgliley was on terms of the greatest y!

intimacy with the Shrewsbury family. He inte- \

rested himself vainly for Arabella when she was '

left a poor infant, and he continued to treat her \

as a favourite and pet. On the day that she
was presented at Court and dined with the Queen, J

he made her take supper with him, and it was in |

his house that, probably for the first time, she j

met Sir Walter Raleigh. Burghley ^^ made ex- ^

ceeding much of her^^ at supper, recounted her
accomplishments enthusiastically to Raleigh, and
after supper, took her into the great hall, where
he presented her to his guests in the same fond ^

manner,* and when the flattered child bade him
good night, he eagerly asked when she would
come again to Court. ^

Before leaving town, Mr. Gilbert Talbot and
his wife, probably taking Arabella with them, .

went to take leave of the good old treasurer. '

He was at the time imable to see them, and so
they wrote from their ^^ pore lodging in Coleman
Strete,^^ to bid. him farewell. At the end of
this letter, dated July 13, 1588, is a postscript

* Letter of Charles Cavendish in Miss Costello*s " Eminent
Englishwomen," vol. i. p. 210.

1589.] Lady Arabella Stuart 99

by Arabella^ interesting as the earliest piece of
her writing still in existence. It was written
at the age of thirteen, and is in French — ^pro-
bably to exhibit her proficiency in that lan-
guage;—

" Je priezez Dieu Mons. vous donner en par-
faicte et entiere sante, tout heureux,^et bon
succes et serez preste h> vous faire tout honneur
et service.*

"Arbella Stewart.^'

In 1589 the question of her lands seems to
have been mooted. They were probably lands
left her by her mother ; and two or three times
we find reference to the manor of SmaUwood, in
Derbyshire, about which was a long lawsuit on
behalf of ''the Lady Arabella.^'f

On Feb. 5th, 1589, Sir Francis Walsingham
writes to Thomas Fowler, ''This morning, my
Lord Treasurer sent unto me to give you ad-
vertisement that for the defense of some of the
lands belonging to the Lady Arbella, now in
question, he should have need of the evidences
of the said lands, and therefore to request you
to send him word where the said evidences re-
main and how he may come to them, whereon I

* Ellis' Letters, Second Series,
t See Chancery Bills, Eliz.

H 2

100 Life and Letters of [^590.

pray you with all expedition to give his lordship
such satisfaction as you can/^*

The eflPorts were probably unsuccessful, for
Arabella remained as poor as before. Another
diflSculty arose : the jewels left by Margaret,
Countess of Lennox, for Arabella, were, as we
have seen, given by warrant of Mary, Queen of
Scots, into the hands of Thomas Fowler, who
was to keep them in his charge till Arabella was
fourteen years old, when they were to be de-
livered to her. Unfortunately, at this critical
period, Thomas Fowler died, and the jewels came
into the hands of King James. Arabella had
now reached the age of fourteen, and Lord
Burghley wrote on her account, demanding the
jewels. This demand was also made in vain.
On the 4th of June, 1590, Robert Bowes writes
to Lord Burghley : " Simdrie times I have moved
the King, that the jewels late in the .hands of
Thomas Fowler, deceased, and appertaining to
the Lady Arbell, might be restored to her.
Nevertheless, I am still deferred, that upon
sight of the Lady Margaret's will the King will
take order in all these things.^'

On the 12th of June, 1590, Bowes again
writes to Burghley: "I have again, and with
some earnestness, sought that the jewels late in
* State Papers, Scot., xlv. fol. 55, MS.

I590-] Lady Arabella Stuart 101

hand of Mr. Fowler, deceased, and appertaining
to the Lady Arbella, and the bills, bonds, writ
ings, apparel, and other goods of Mr. Fowler,
taken by Earl Bothwell, might be restored. But
the King hath answered, yesterday, that he doth
not only detain them in recompense of such
legacies as the Lady Margaret Douglas be-
queathed to him, and left in Mr. Fowler's custody
to be delivered to him, and whereof he is not
hitherto satisfied by any part; but also that
these jewels and pearls being the goods of
Thomas Fowler, appertain to the King, for that
he died intestate and was a stranger here. He
agreed to submit the matter to the Council.^'*

The son of Fowler besought restitution, pro-
mising to pay his father's debts, and especially to
restore such jewels as belonged to Arabella and
others. But the King ordered all debts due to
Mr. Fowler to be paid to himself. The debtors,
in fear of the royal summons, were inclined to
obey the unjust demand, and pay the money to
the King, ^^ out of whose hands,'' says Bowes,
'^ it will be hard to recover the same." Bowes
was well aware of the King's intention to claim
them on the ground of Fowler dying intestate,
and resolved to do all in his power to preserve
the money.

* State Papers, Scot., xlv. fol. 62, MS.

/-.

102 Life and Letters of [1590-

Whether the jewels were recovered is iin- J

certain ; the probabilities are that they were, at
any rate, partly restored, as, later on, we find ,

Arabella in possession of jewels ; and her dress -i

is estimated at an amount totally at variance \

with her income, and which can only be com- ^

prehended by reckoning, jewels as the chief
article of expense.

At this time, a change took place in the hom e < '

of Arabella, and a new lord ruled over the do- 1

maiiis of the house of Shrewsbury, unhappily
without bringing any improvetnent in domestic
peace.

On the 18th of November, 1590, died George,
sixth Earl of Shrewsbury, the fourth and last
husband of Sess of Hardwick, an event which
led to estrangement between his widow and those
of his sons, who had heretofore been on peaceable
terms with each other. And still the all-fruitM
source of discord between relations — ^money —
continued the strife that had embittered the life
of the last Earl. He had left his two younger
sons, Edward and Henry Talbot, executors, in
preference to Gilbert, his heir, who had offended
him by taking part with Bess against him.
The two sons renounced the executorship, and
Bess, stepping in, claimed and obtained the
adminislration. But to this, Gilbert Talbot,

I590-] Lady Arabella Stuart 103

now Earl of Shrewsbury, refiised to submit, and
succeeded in obtaining the administration de novo,
and in putting Bess completely out of office.
Violent dissensions between the Earl and widow
were the consequence, the former being at the
same time at war with his brothers, one of whom
(Edward Talbot) was accused of trying to poison
him by means of a pair of perfumed gloves.

Arabella was thus continually in the midst of
discord and strife. Prom the time of her grand-
mother's estrangement from her fourth husband^
there had been little peace at home, and the sus-
picions with which Queen Elizabeth now began
to regard Arabella, did not serve to render the
change to London much more attractive.

Those who have not known a happy home in
early youth, if gifted with strong capabilities of
aflfection, are prone to place a high value on
domestic happiness. To them it seems a far-oflT
haven of peace, a goal brighter than any that
ambition can oflfer — ^nay, even ambition to them
is but the path which they trust may lead to the
serene reward. They wish to be known in
order to be loved; and while the world sees
only a battler for distinction, and good persons
possibly hold forth on the vanity and worldliness
of their aims, the true interpretation of their
ambition would be to be truly known.

104 Life and Letters of [^590. *^

That this was the predominant feeling in the
heart of Arabella, there can be little doubt. Her '

keen intellect was, as is generally the case, ac-
companied by ardent and sympathetic feelings, ^
To be a princess of the blood royal was no source ^
of congratulation to her. Her rank shut her 1
out from all companionship with girls of her own
age, and there were no high natures in the
mature minds of those aroimd her on whom she ^^
could repose with reverence and confidence. \
The worldly Bess could give her education and
care for all her physical wants, but that was all.
And so Arabella fell back on the only resource of
a lonely, gifted mind — ^the companionship of books. ^
But, in her day, that was a far poorer compen-
sation for the lack of friendship and sympathy
than even at present. Science was in its earliest
infancy. The fine arts were practised only in
foreign countries, and literature was chiefly con- ^
fined to the classics. The romance reader was
compelled to be satisfied with the woes of Dido
and the lovers of Penelope. Such literature as lay
within her reach was, however, eagerly devoured by
Arabella, and it is probable that now began those \
dreams of a romantic home, a companion who
could comprehend her, and a lot where Love
should reign triumphant. ^

1588.] Lady Arabella Stuart 105

CHAPTER V.

FIRST SUSPICIONS.

jlRABELLA was now nearly fifteen years
old, and with every year her importance
increased. Though not what is called
beautiful, her face was lighted up with that anima-
tion and intelligence which is more charming
than beauty, while her auburn hair flowing over
her shoulders, her blue eyes, and rounded figure,
gave the clearest denial to those who would
refuse her all credit for the possession of even
physical charms.* She was one of those who
make such totally diflferent impressions on diffe-
rent persons — characters not unknown in our
own day, whose beauty is chiefly '^in the eye
of the gazer,-^ — and hence we have the most
opposite accounts of her appearance; and while
some have pronounced her as having no claim to
good looks, others, probably those who conversed
with and listened to her, have unhesitatingly,

* Numerous portraits exist of her. No less than eight
miniatures of her were exhibited at the South Kensington
Museum alone.

106 Life and Letters of [1588.

and without qualification^ applied to her the
term " beautiful/^ Her portraits well confirm
the impression of a disputed claim to beauty,
but all alike express intelligence and goodness.

But none of these advantages, so powerful in 1

plebeian life, had any effect on her destiny.
None cared to win her for her merits or her I

graces — all sought to gain her as a political tool, I

and a firebrand to kindle the flames of war. li

The dispersion of the Spanish Armada had not ^

given peace to Queen Elizabeth. When the
first excitement of the triumph was over, new
cares pressed upon her, new invasions threatened ,

her, and domestic conspiracy began to lift its "^

hydra head and poison her life with suspicions
too well founded to make us wonder at acts
that, looked at without the accompanying circum-
stances, appear at first sight unmitigated tyranny.
And tyranny they certainly were, as a glance J*

at the statute-book of this reign will amply jl

testify. But that every provocation was given |

can be no more denied than the jacts themselves. |

It is a common saying, that '^Elizabeth was j

great as a queen, little as a woman.^^ It would •:

be much better to say that some of her acts j

were right and others wrong, some her glory
and others her shame, and thus judge her solely ^

as a human being. It is forgotten that Eliza- |

y 1588.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 107

beth had the sternest masculine duties imposed
upon her, that her advisers were men of severe
natures, that the amount of hard unromantic
y work she daily performed would frighten many

I a nervous man of the present day, who might

I well shrink from the mere idea of only mastering

the contents of her vast and incessant corre-
spondence ; that amidst all these sterner duties,
y and the constant cares and anxieties that pressed

I upon her, she neglected none of the minor cere-

[ monies and observances that, insignificant in

themselves, are yet representatives of certain
1 feelings, and form an important link between a

sovereign and her people. Heavily would these
stupendous labours have fallen on the strongest
man, yet they would in all probability have been
lightened by the sympathy, sometimes a better
thing than the aid of a consort, one who, like
Philippa at the siege of Calais, might have pleaded
that mercy was at times better than justice, and
dispelled the terrors that are the most fruitful
sources of crimes. But Elizabeth had no such
adviser and consoler. That her solitary condi-
tion was her own choice, is a reply worthy of those
who regard marriage only in the light of a good
business transaction, or im engagement which
every woman is bound to form under peril of
being considered deficient in the softest feelings

108 Life and Letters of [1589.

of humanity. That, in spite of the cruelties
from the stigma of which she cannot be freed,
she was intensely susceptible of feelings which
she deemed it her duty to crush cannot be denied.
Her faithful friendship for Burghley, her bitter
tears at his death, her love for little children,
her melancholy observation on hearing that the
Queen of Scots was the mother of a " faire
sonne/^ the honour she paid to men of genius,
who, knowing her faults, have yet left their re-
corded words in herfavour — all go to prove that she
really sacrificed herself in this matter to the good of
her kingdom, and to the highest feelings of which
she was capable, viz., not to entrust all that was
precious to her to one who was incapable of ful-
filling that trust with honour and devotion. As
to her suitors, which of them could be consort
for such a mind? the false Dudley, the cruel
Philip, the dissolute Anjou, the fickle Charles,
and the host of inferior men, who, as Elizabeth
well knew, paid court to her throne, and not to
herself, and who proved their unworthiness and
her just judgment of them by becoming her
enemies afterwards ? But the unmitigated tasks
fell too hardly, and the cruel suspicions from
which she could not escape poisoned her better
nature, and with the hard sacrifice of her own
feelings, went hand-in-hand the sacrifice of the

1590.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 109

feelings of others. The innocent misrepresented
to her by the guilty, were treated as guilty ; and
those who truly known would have been appre-
ciated, and might have been a solace to her,
were by her enemies presented in such odious
forms, that her sight was perplexed, and she
looked upon them as traitors and enemies too.
As early as the year 1586,* we have seen that a
plan had been formed for marrying Arabella
Stuart to the Prince of Parma, son of Alexander
Famese, the famous duke, the object of the
'^ foul scorn ^^ of Elizabeth. Nothing then came
from this, and the probability is that Elizabeth
was ignorant of the design, as she treated
Arabella and her relations with such favour.
But in the year 1590t the plan was renewed,
not by the relations of Arabella, who had nothing
to do with it, but by the discontented English
Catholics, supported by the Pope. The eldest
son of Alexander Farnese was the first proposed,
but as he was encumbered with a wife, his
younger brother, the Cardinal Famese, was to be
released from his vows by the Pope, and as he
was the direct descendant of the line of Philippa,
the eldest legitimate daughter of John of Gaunt,

* State Papers, Scotch Ser., xix. fol. 108, MS.
f State Papers, Scotch Ser., xlvi. fol. 15, MS. Carte, iv.
p. 707.

110 Life and Letters of [1590.

and wife to John I. of Portugal, he was supposed to
have aelaim to the EngKsh crown. Cardinal Famese
was to marry Arabella, become king of England,
and the reign of the Catholics was once more to
be established. The party who supported this
plan consisted of Boman Catholics, too patriotic
to choose the foreign Infanta of Spain, and too
much attached to their religion to wish for a
Protestant on the throne. Arabella, though
acknowledged a Protestant, was but a girl sup-
posed to be easily influenced, and was even sus-
pected of wavering already. It was for the sake
of bringing in foreign aid to strengthen her pre-
tensions that the Catholics wished to marry her
to Farnese, and by his means give force to the
objection of alienatioji against James of Scotland.
Pope Gregory, and later on. Pope Clement
VIII., perfectly understood this feeling. Clement,
especially, saw that too many of the Roman y

Catholics of England, as well as the King of
France, were against the Infanta to give any
hope for her, and he, therefore, for many years,
sanctioned the present wild and outrageous
scheme. Among other things, it was rumoured
that a man named Revel, called also Lord Lati-
mer, painted, with the assistance of HUliard, a por-
trait of Arabella, to send to the Duke of Parma.*

* State Papers, Eliz., Dom., 1591, MS.

^ 1590*] Lady Arabella Stuart 111

New reports and suspicions were soon added
and put into circulation, and among them one
that she was to marry the Earl of Northumber-
land^how well-founded and how worthy of credence
may be judged from the following extract from
'^ Certain Notes of remembrance out of the ex-
amination of H. Walpole and others :'^ —

'^ It should seem there is some eye abroad
and some project of contriving a match between
^ the Earl of Northumberland and the Lady Ar-

bella; not that there appeareth any practise
thereof on this side, but if they abroad conceive
it to be apt for the purpose at one time or the
other, they will set the traflfic a-foot/^*

To this may be appended a miserable concoc-
tion, only valuable as showing the sources of the
unjust and ridiculous rumours that deprived
Arabella of the favour of the Queen :t —

'^ What speeches the Earl of Shrewsbury, my

I lord and master, used to me at my being with him

the 24th of September, being Thursday, 1590, at
his house at Hanworth, in his chamber (account
I of talk that he had about my lady his life), with

almost tears in his eyes, that he feared the
'I Lady Arabella would bring much trouble on his

J house by his wife and his daughter's devises.

* State Papers, Eliz., Dom., ccxxxv. fol. 19, MS.
t Ibib. ccxxxiii., 73, MS.

112 Life and Letters of [1590.

And there withal clapt his hands sundry times
upon his breast, saying, ^ Here it lies, here it
lies. Do you not know one Dr. Browne,^ said
he, 'about London, a cunning fellow, he is a
great man with my daughter Talbot and the
Cavendishes ?^ I answered, ' I know him not.'
' Well,^ said he, ' that same Browne is a masker
in this house. And my wife and her daughter
have great affairs with him. And at dealing with
some of the heralds about matters which must
be kept from me (for they think I am a great
block in their way), I know Gilbert Talbot will

be too much ruled by those , for they do

with him what they will list, and so I have said
to some of his friends, but all will not help. If
God give me any ability and health, I -svill to the
Queene this next spring, though I go but two
miles a-day. And I know that the Queene
favours not Gilbert Talbot. Both for those
matters he took part with my wife in against me.
And for the Lady Arabell. She was wont to
have the upper hand of my wife and her daugh-
ter Talbot, but now it is otherwise (as it is told me)
for that they have been advised by some of their
friends at the Court that it was misliked. My
daughter Talbot persuaded her husband how he is
bound by aU laws, both divine and others, that he
ought not to keep any secrets from her being his

I590-] Lady Arabella Stuart. 113

wife, whatsoever it be that he knoweth or
thinketh/''

It was at this time that Arabella received the
following, her first letter from James of Scot-
land : —

The King of Scotland to Lady Arabella Stuart.*

" Although the natural bonds of blood, my dear
cousin, be suflScient for the good entertainments
of amity, yet will I not abstain from those com-
mon offices of letters, having now so long keeped
silence till the fame and report of so good parts
in you have interpelled me. And as I cannot
but in heart rejoice, so can I not forbeare to
signify to you hereby, what contentment I have
received hearing of your so virtuous behaviour,
wherein I pray you most heartily to continue,
not that I doubt thereof, being certified of so
full concourse of nature and nourriture, but that
you may be the more encouraged to proceed in
your virtuous demeanour, reaping the fruit of so
honest estimation, the increase of your honour
and joy, and your kindly afiected friends, specially
of me, whom it pleaseth most to see so virtuous
and honorable scions arise of that race whereof
we have both our descent. Now hearing more
certain notice of the place of your abode, I will

* State Papers, Scot., xlvii., fol. 123.
VOL. I. I

114 Life and Letters of [1591- \

the more frequently visit you by my letters,
whicli I would be glad to do in person, expecting ^

also to know from time to time of your estate by
your own hand, which I look you will not weary I

to do, being first summoned by me, knowing how
far I shall be pleased thereby. In the meanwhile,
and next occasion of further knowledge of your
state, after my heartiest commendation, I wish
you, my dear cousin, of God all honour and
hearty contentment. 1

'' From Holyrood House, the 23rd of December,
1591.

" Your loving and affectionate cousin,

" James R.^'

The chief suspected Papist in the family was j

Mary Talbot, the wife of Gilbert, who was re- \

peatedly warned on account of his wife. He did
not deny that she was a Papist, but declared his
soul '' as clear as crystal,^' and invited a strict in-
vestigation of his family with regard to their sup-
posed plots. We may be pretty sure that, if
there had been the shadow of a proof against
Arabella or Gilbert^s wife, they would have
speedily felt the effects. Ko trial or punishment
was inficted, but from this time Queen EHzabeth
looked upon Arabella with a suspicious eye. We
hear no more of her presence at the royal dinner-

1592.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 115

parties, or of public honours paid to her before
foreign ambassadors. The poor child had become
the centre of a party, and was looked upon al-
most as guilty as if the plots were made on her
behalf rather than on those of the plotters. They
were, however, sufficiently in earnest to wish to get
hold of her, and it is by no means unlikely that,
once in possession of her, they would have forced
her to marry Famese, and commenced active
operations in good earnest. The following curious
conversation between two Catholic agents is ex-
tracted £rom the confession of a Jesuit named
James Yong, and though perhaps extorted by the
rack, and therefore unreliable, it is valuable as
showing in what light Arabella was represented
to Queen Elizabeth, and what cause the latter
had for her suspicions ; —

'^ When Roulston departed back again, he came
to Stanley, who said, ' Thou art welcome, I hope*
Thou shalt be employed in as good service for
the Lady of which we have often talked.^ At
which time he said no more. Yet, being de-
manded after by one Dr. Stillington what the
Lady was, ' Oh V saith he, ' if we had her, the
most of our fears were past, for any one that-
h could hinder us in England. It is Arbella/

» saith he, ^ who keepeth with the Earl of Shrews-

i( bury, whom most certainly they will proclaim

f I 2

116 Life and Letters of [^59^.

Queen, if their mistress should now happen to
die. And the rather they wiU do it, for that in
a woman's government they may still rule after
their own designments. But here is Symple/
saith he, ' and Rowlston, who, like cimning fel-
lows, have promised to convey her by stealth out
of England into Flanders, which, if it be done, I
promise unto you she shall shortly after visit
Spain/ ''*

This confession was made before the Lord-
Keeper Puckering, Lord Buckhurst, and Mr.
Fortescue, Chancellor of the Exchequer, who im-
mediately sent it to Burghley, by whom it was
imparted to the Queen. ^^ Her Majesty,^' says
Burghley, ^^ would not any here of her Council
know that part of his confession, but only myself
and Robert Cecil, because, seeing the length, to
ease me, she caused him to read it.''

The secrecy was wise, and very soon the words
of the priest were confirmed by another, named
Thomas Christopher, who deposed that '^ Sir Wil-
liam Stanley, at his last coming from Rome, being
entertained with great courtesy by My Lord the
Bishop of Montefiascou at supper, discoursed
largely of the state of England. Among other
things, saying : ^ that one young Lady, as yet un-
married, was the greatest fear they had, lest she
* Strype*8 " Annals," iv. p. 102.

i592«] Lady Arabella Stuart 117

should be proclaimed Queen, if it should so
happen that her Majesty should die/ Yet there
vas hope that some will be found to hinder this
matter. So he would not name the Lady,
his man being there in presence. Yet, at my
coming to Paris, and talking with one Mr. Robert
Tempest, I repeated again these words, demand-
ing if he did know anything concerning this young
Lady. He answered that very shortly he trusted
to God to meet with her here at Brussels. For
that one Simple, a Scot, and one Rowlston,
had undertaken to convey her out of England.
The Lady doth abide with an Earl whose name
I do not remember. And she is allied to the
Queen of Scots.^^ *

Sir William Stanley was said, by another priest,
to have a pension for life of three hundred
crowns a-month fipom the King of Spain. He
appears to have been the chief agent employed to
obtain possession of Arabella. His myrmidons were
sent to England to collect mariners for the King
of Spain, and disguised as beggars, they wandered
about, seeking to corrupt by foreign gold, and
promises of advancement, all whose loyalty to
England was weaker than their allegiance to the
Pope. Their eflforts, however, failed. Arabella
was too strictly guarded, and so long as she re-
• Strype's " Annals," iv. p. 106.

118 Life and Letters of [159a.

mained in England, there was but little hope of
her forming a raUying-point.

Perhaps a latent remorse at having deprived
.Arabella of her title of Countess of Lennox, and
her father's estates, made James now try in some
measure to make compensation for his injustice.
The earldom of Lennox had been conferred by
-him on his favourite, D'Aubigny (Esme Stuart),
and James again proposed that he should marry
Arabella, and thus restore her lost rights at the
same time that he added to the dignity of his
favourite. D^Aubigny eagerly accepted the pro-
j)Osed honour. ^^ It is told me,^' says Robert
-Bowes, writing to Lord Burghley, ^' that the Duke
of Lennox knoweth an especial personage in
England to follow his cause there, and that still,
by advice of a great personage here, he longeth
after Arbella.^^ * James, haviQg no children, de-
clared his intention of naming Esme Stuart as
his successor to the Crown of Scotland, and thus
his marriage with Arabella would have had the
«ame effect of uniting the two crowns, in case
of Jameses death without issue, as if he had lived.

Arabella was probably no more consulted on
the matter than in the other matrimonial plans on
her account, nor do we find that her maternal rela-
tions fell at all into the plan, which was at once
* State Papers, Sootch Series, xliz., foL 23, MS.

ij92.] Lady Arabella Stuart 119

put an end to by the stem refusal of Queen
Elizabeth^ who signified her disapprobation in such
bitter terms and scomfal language that James
adduced it as one reason for forming a con-
federacy mth the King of Spain against her.
And thus ended the fourth proposal for the hand
of Arabella.

The Catholics were still on the alert, and con-
stantly watching for a safe opportunity either of
drawing her into their plots or of getting her
into their power. The counter-spies employed by
Burghley and the Queen, however, rendered all
their efforts vain. A strict watch, night and
day, was kept over Arabella, and a letter from
Lord Burghley warned Bess (of Hardwick) of the
dangers that were lurking near, and cautioned
her to use all her vigilance in the guardianship
of her precious charge. «

Bess returned the following answer, which is
interesting, especially as showing the manner in
which Arabella's daily life was passed : —

Tlie Dowager Countess of Shrewsbury to Lord
Burghley.*

'' My honorable good Lord, — I received your
Lordship's letter on Wednesday towards night,
being the 20th of this September, by a servant

•EUis's" Letters."

120. Life and Letters of [1592.

of Mr. John Talbot^s of Ireland. My good
Lord, I was at the first much troubled to think
that so wicked and mischievous practises should
be devised to entrap my poor Arbell and me,
but I put my trust in the Almighty, and will
use such diligent care as I doubt not but to
prevent whatsoever shall be attempted by any
wicked persons against the poor child. I am
most bound to her Majesty that it pleased her
to appoint your Lordship to give me knowledge
of this wicked practice, and I humbly thank your
Lordship for advertising it ; if any such like be
hereafter discovered, I beseech your Lordship
I may be forewarned. I will not have any un-
known or suspected person to come to my house.
Upon the least suspicion that may happen here,
any way, I shall give advertisement to your
Lordship. I have little resort to me ; my house
is furnished with sufficient company. Arbell
walks not late ; at such time as she shall take
the air, it shall be near the house and well at-
tended on ; she goeth not to anybody^s house at
all; I see her almost every hour in the day;
she lieth in my bedchamber. If I can be more
precise than I have been, I wiU be. I am bound
in nature to be careftd for Arbell ; I find her
loving and dutiful to me, nor more by me
regarded than to accomplish her Majesty's

I592-] Lady Arabella Stuart 121

pleasure^ and that which I think may be for
her service. I wonld rather wish many deaths^
than to see this, or any such like wicked attempt,
to prevail.

" About a year since, there was one Harrison,
a seminary, that lay at his brother^s house about
a mile from Hardwick, whom I thought then to
have^ caused to been apprehended and to have sent
him up, but found he had license for a time.
Notwithstanding, the seminary soon after, went
from his brother^s, finding how much discontent
I was with his lying so near me. Since my coming
now into the country, I had some intelligence
that the same seminary was come again to his
broLher^s house, my son William Cavendish went
thither of a sudden to make search for him, but
could not find him. I write thus much to your
Lordship, that if any such traitorous and
naughty persons (through her Majesty's cle-
mency) be suflered to go abroad, that they may
not harbour near my houses, Wingfield, Hard-
wick, nor Chatsworth in Derbyshire ; they are
the likest instruments to put a bad matter in
execution.

" One Morley, who hath attended on Arbell
and read to her for the space of three years and
a half, showed to be much discontented since my
return into the country, in saying he had lived

122 Life and Letters of [1592.

in hope to have some annuity granted him by
Arbell out of her land during his life, or some
lease of ground to the value of forty pound a
year, alleging that he was so much damnified by
leaving of the University, and now saw that if
she were willing, yet not of ability, to make him
any such assurance. I, understanding by divers
that Morley was so much discontented, and withal
of late having some cause to be doubtfiil of his
forwardness in religion (though I cannot charge
him with Papistry), took occasion to part with
him. After he was gone from my house, and
all his stuff carried from him, the next day he
returned again, very importunate to serve without
standing upon any recompense, which made me
more suspicious, and the more willing to part with
him. I have another in my house, who will
supply Morley^s place very well for the time.
I will have those that shall be sufficient in learn-
ing, honest and weU-disposed, so near as I can.
I am enforced to use the hand of my son WiUiam
Cavendish, not being able to write so much my-
self, for fear of bringing yet great pain to my
head. He only is privy to your Lordship's
letter, and neither Arbell, nor any other living,
nor shall be.

" I beseech your Lordship, I may be directed
from you as occasion shall fall out. To the utter-

159a.]' Lady Arabella Stuart. 123

most ol my understanding, I liave been and will
be careful. I beseech the Almighty to send your
Lordship a long and happy life, and so I will com-
mit your Lordship to his protection. — From my
house at Hardwick the 21st of September, 1592.
" Your Lordship^s as I am bound,

''E. Shrewsbury.

" To'«the Right Honorable my very good Lord,
the Lord Burghley,Lord Treasurer of England."

Another cause for alarm and suspicion now
appeared in the shape of Father Parson's book
on the Succession. Queen Mary's priests, as the
RomanCaiholicswere called, had, since the reigji of
EUzabeth, been forbidden to practise their worship
openly, or to maintain any university in England.
To compensate for this, the English Catholics, at
the instigation of a zealous priest, named AUen,
had established a college at Douay for the edu-
cation of missionaries, and some time after.
Pope Gregory XIII., opened a similar college for
the Jesuits at B.ome. Father AUen then be-
sought Mercurianus, the chief of the Jesuits at
Some, to send some of his order to the benighted
English, and accordingly the two cleverest of*
the English students at the Roman coUege, viz.,
Robert Parsons and Edward Campion,* were sent
to England, there to practise every art, to turn

124 Life and Letters of [i594-

the English from their heretic Queen, and con-
vince them that, even legally, the Tudors were
about the last who had any claim to reign over
them. In this last endeavour. Parsons was pre-
eminent, and in 1594 he published, under the
name of Richard Dolman, a book on the Succes-
sion, which, abused as it has been, we may safely
say has been carefully studied — and used — by
every historian of this period.

In this book Parsons so remorselessly laid
open the arguments of the various pretenders to
the crown, as to kindle the greatest alarm in the
mind of the King of Scotland. Arabella's claims
were fully discussed, and though not allowed,
yet the effect was to bring her prominently
before the public, and show to the princes of
Europe, that if Father Parsons did not uphold her
right, so many did, that it was a subject of im-
portance, and by no means unworthy of the atten-
tion of any Catholic prince who had any designs on
the English throne. At the same time, the Duke
of Sessa wrote to the King of Spain, that the
Pope suspected the Queen of England of treating
with the Beamois (Henry IV.) to repudiate his
*wife, and marry Arabella,* and thus introduce
him to the English Succession.* (July 13, 1596).

James could bear it no longer. " He wrote to
* State Papers, Scot., lix., fol. 6, MS.

J596.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 125

the King of Spain, offering to form a league with
him and make war on Elizabeth, and even become
a Roman Catholic, if Philip would only guarantee
his succession. Among other causes of offence
alleged by James, as reasons for making war^
two are especially notable, viz., 1st, ^^ The Act of
Parliament passed by the English in the states of
England a little before the condenmation and
death of the Queen his mother, when it was
enacted, that no person or persons might inherit
the crown of England, that were descended from
the kindred of such as had been condemned for
conspiring against the Queen^ the which Act was
manifestly made to exclude the said King of
Scotland from the succession to the crown of
England/'*

No greater folly could have been perpetrated
by James, than in thus emphatically pointing out
this Act to the friend of Parma. K the fact of his
being a descendant of a conspirator were the only
barrier to his succession, then, Vithout necessity
of plotting, the crown would devolve on Arabella,
and if Philip ceded the claims of the Infanta as
hopeless, it was far more likely that he would
prefer to see Famese, a friend, and possible tool
of his own, on the English throne — a plan that

* Winwood, i., p. i. Butler's ** Roman Catholics," where
the authenticity of this proposal is discussed.

126 Life and Letters of [}59^'

would also prevent the dreaded union of Eng-
land "witli Scotland. After some more accusations^
among which occurs that of Elizabeth^s '^ causing
the said King to be three or four times taken into
custody" James declares '^ that the said Queen
of England never would give the said King his
father's estate that belonged to him in England^
nor would she deliver up to him Arbella, his
uncle's daughter, to be married to the Duke of
Lenox in Scotland, at the time when the said
King, having no issue, intended to make the said
Duke, his successor, heir to the crown of Scotland,
at which time the Queen uttered very harsh
words, and of much contempt, against the King
of Scotland/' *

But though the Spanish party were possessed
with the idea that Lord Burghley would support
the claims of Arabella on the death of Elizabeth,
and declared that he even intended to marry
her to his own son, there appears to have been no
reason to suppose the nation at large acknow-
ledged this view. The different parties, blinded
by their feelings, made a bugbear where none
existed, and we can best judge of the state of
the English people by the words of a calm, dis-
passionate observer of the time, viz., Henry IV.
of France.

* Win wood, i.

1596. ] Lady Arabella Stuart. 127

'^ The King/' says Sully, " began to consider
mth me what princess of Europe he should
choose for his wife, in case his marriage with
Margaret of Valois were dissolved. 'I should
have no objection (said he) to the Infanta of Spain,
provided that with her I could marry the Low
Countries; neither would I refuse the Princess
Arabella of England, if, since it is publicly said
the crown of England really belongs to her, she
were only declared presumptive heiress of it.
But there is no reason to expect that either of
these things will happen.' ''*

The agony of James was at length calmed by
the Danish Court, who, like Henry, saw that
. James was only injuring his cause by excitement,
and advised him not to press his title, so long as
Elizabeth lived, and by no means offend her.f
Reports, however, of the intended marriage of
Arabella, now to Henry IV., now to the Duke
Mathias, kept him on the rack. He dreaded her
marriage with any foreigner, under the belief
that, in that age of ambition, no husband would
allow her pretensions to sleep ; but that she
herself was indifferent to a crown, never once
entered his head. When the report of her pro-
posed marriage to Duke Mathias reached him, be

• Sully's " Memoirs," ii. p. 70.
t State Papers, Scot., Ixiii., fol. 66, MS.

128 Life and Letters of [1600.

expressed his disbelief in it, '^ and/' says George
Nicolas, writing to Sir Robert Cecil, Feb. 16th,
1600, ^^ he does not mistrust her Majesty's mean-
ing on that point towards him, her Majesty having
promised never to do any thing to his hurt/'*

Meanwhile, the friends of Arabella seem to
have acted with the utmost prudence. They
appear to have held no communication with any
of those who were so eager to put her forward as
a candidate for the Succession, and though it was
reported that Arabella herself had no objection
whatever to become a Catholic and go to Spain,
and had even commissioned agents to treat with
the continental princes on the subject of marriage,
there is not the slightest evidence of the truth of
the report. The fate of Lady Jane Grey and
Mary Stuart were too fresh in remembrance for so
prudent a schemer as Bess, and she never suffered
the slightest cause for suspicion of her, or Ara-
bella's, loyalty to Queen Elizabeth. Among the
new year's presents to the Queen for the year
1600 we find the following : —

^^ By the Countes of Shrewesbury t — a gowne
of white sattin, leyed on with pasmane of golde,
the vemewyse lyned with strawe collored Jar-
ceonet — delivered to Rauf Hoope."

* State Papers, Scot., Ixvi., fol. 11, MS.
t The wife of Gilbert.

i6oo.] Lady Arabella Stuart 129

'^ January 1st, 1600. — ^By the Barrones Ar-
bella — one skarfe or head-vaile of lawne cut-worke,
florished with silver 'and silke of sondry colors/^

The terms on which Arabella and the Shrews-
burys were with the Queen may be gathered by
the following letter from Lady Staflford, with a
present to Arabella from the Queen : —

The Lady Dorothy Stafford to the Countess of
Shrewsbury.

" Right honorable and my very good Lady, —
' I have, according to the purport of your honorable

Letters, presented your Ladyship^s New Year's
gift, together with my Lady Arbella's, to the
Queen's Majesty, who hath very graciously ac-
cepted thereof, and taken an especial liking to
} mj Lady Arbella's. It pleased her Majesty to tell

me that, whereas, in former letters of your
Ladyship's, your desire was that her Majesty
would have that respect of my Lady Arbella,
I that she might be careftdly bestowed to her

Majesty's good liking; that, according to the
contents of those letters, her Majesty told me,
that she would be careful of her, and withal both
returned a token to my Lady Arbella, which is
> not so good as I could wish it, nor so good as

f her Ladyship deserveth, in respect of the rareness

of that which she sent unto her Majesty. But

i VOL. I. K

130 Life and Letters of [1601.

I beseech you^ good Madam^ seeing it pleased
her Majesty to say so much unto me touching
her care of my Lady ArbeUa, that your Lady-
ship will vouchsafe me so much favour as to keep
it to yourself, not making any other acquainted
with it, but rather repose the trust in me for to
take my opportunity for putting her Majesty in
mind thereof, I will do as carefully as I can.
And thus being always bound to your Ladyship
for your honorable kindness toward me, I
humbly commit your Ladyship to the safe pro-
tection of Almighty God.

''From Westmins., this 13th of January, 1600.''

Nothing could put a stop to the intrigues of
the Catholics, strengthened and encouraged as
they were by the wishes and counsels of Pope
Clement VIII. Still the plotting went on, and still
the innocent victim was charged with being a
party ; for it was difficult to believe that a person
supposed to benefit the most by a' conspiracy
should be the one in reality totally free from any
such intention. The Queen's frowns grew darker,
and Arabella was almost banished from Court. The
prohibition to discuss the Succession at home
drove many abroad, where they were eagerly
received by the Pope, and encouraged in de-
signs that appeared more mighty when backed
by a foreign prince. Though the spies of Eliza-

i6oi.] Lady Arabella Stuart 131

beth^ probably, greatly magnified the danger to
her, in order, like all of their class, to increase
their own importance, and enhance the price of
their information, still the clearest proof exists,
that it was not without cause that the Catholics
were accused of tampering with foreign powers
for the subjugation of their country to the Pope.
The following letter from Cardinal D'Ossat, the
plenipotentiary of Henry IV. of Prance, at Bome,
lays bare the conduct of the English Catholics,
the Pope, and the King of Spain. It may be
relied on as safe evidence. D^Ossat had not the
'slightest cause for misrepresenting the truth.
Though a Roman Catholic, he speaks with any-
thing but reverence of his Holiness ; he was in no
way bound to either Rome, Spain, or England,
and had the strongest motives for telling the
simple truth to the least prejudiced monarch of
the age. His position, too, gave him every
facility for acquiring an accui^ate knowledge
of the events that he transmitted to his master.

Letter of the Cardinal jyOssat to Henry IV.
of France,*

^^ SiB, — I have heretofore, upon occasion, writ

* This letter is taken from a translation made by Birch
in the Sloane MSS. The original may be found among th&
collected letters of Cardinal D'Ossat.

K 2

132 Life and Letters of [160 r,

to your Majesty, that the Pope had some intent
to prefer the Cardinal Famese to the Succession
of the Crown of England, after the decease of the
Queen now reigning. Then, perceiving this reso-
lution was not liked on that side, I lately, upon
another occasion, writ to your Majesty, that I
would send you an express of it by itself, which
now, God willing, I shall perform by this.

'^ The Pope first thought of the Duke of Parma,
as the elder brother, and his ally, and will do it
the first, and it only, if his Holiness perceives the
kingdom of England can be obtained without Ar-
bella. But if, after the Queen's decease, Arbella
should raise a strong party in England, and
that, for the easier conquest of the Klingdom, it
were necessary to join his forces with Arbella^s ;
then, in this case, because he cannot treat of a
marriage betwixt Arbella, and the Duke of Parma,
already married, the Pope intends, instead of the
Duke of Parma, to bring in the Cardinal, his
brother, who might marry the said Arbella, and
by those means, they, both joining their forces,
would sooner, and easier compass their designs.
And it was by occasion of the said Arbella, that I
made the first mention of the Cardinal Farnese
in a letter of mine of the 27th of March last.
Now, because in all such matters there must be a
shew and colour of justic b, it is pretended, that

i6oi.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 133

these two princes by their mother^s side are de-
scended from the true and lawful kings of England,
and have some right of succession to the kingdom,
without which pretence I believe the Pope had
never thought of them. And now it may please
your Majesty to remember that, in the year 1594,
there was a book set forth in English, which the
Spaniards got writ by a Jesuit called Parsons,
and was spread through England, the Low
Countries, and everywhere else where they thought
the said book might further their intentions,
which have been, and are still, to persuade the
world that many hundred years since there hath
been neither king nor queen lawful in England,
being all excluded by the said book, because they
were tainted with treason, or disinherited, or
bastards, or heretics, or the like, and by conse-
quence excluded also from the Succession to the
said kingdom. After the Queen^s death, all those
that now are of the blood-royal of England, and
such as are of next kin to the said Queen, as
the Kjng of Scotland, and Arbella, which are the
nearest, and then the Earls of Derby, Hertford,
and Hastings, and the Lords Arthur, and Galfrid
Pole, to whom the said book doth nevertheless
object some particular fault to exclude them all
so much the more from the Succession, besides

134 Life and Letters of [1601.

those which he supposes to have been in them,
that have reigned in these later times.

'^ After this fine book hath so excluded from
the crown of England all Scottish and English, it
strives to shew that the true right of Succes-
sion is fallen unto the late King of Spain and
his children, bringing him in divers ways, and
affirming, that the house of Portugal came by the
Lady Philippa, daughter of John of Gaunt, son
to King Edward III., and Blanche, only daughter
:and heir of Lancaster, who was the third son of
Edmund, second son to Henry III., King of
England, the which Lady Philippa was married
to John, the First King of Portugal. The same
book doth also pretend that all the Princesses of
the House of Portugal unto this day are come of
the said marriage. Now saith the books, all the
rights and pretentions of the house of Britannia
are fallen unto the Infanta of Spain, married to
the Archduke Albertus, wherefore the rights of
Succession to the crown of England also belong
i;o the said Infanta, to whom he annexes the
pretended rights two other ways specified in the
hook. He saith likewise that all the rights and
pretentions of the house of Portugal are founded
upon the person of the late King of Spain,
Philip II., and to his children, therefore to him
and to his children doth this day belong the Sue-

i6oi.] Lady Arabella Stuart 135

cession of the kingdom of England. And although
the said propositidn that is inferred from it be
mightily strained, and, as it were, drawn by the
hairs against all right and custom, and be for the
most part false, yet, as your Majesty knows very
well, the late King of Spain made always great
account of it, and bent all his thoughts that way,
as doth to this day the King of Spain, his son.
And to that purpose it is that the Spaniards
make so much of the English that are forced out
of the kingdom for religion, and fled, not only
into the Low Countries and Spain, but also unto
Prance, Italy, and everywhere else ; allowing them
pensions and giving them many other gratuities,
especially to those of whom they hope to get
some notable service either through their nobility,
kindred, or allies, or by their courage and valour.
To that intent also are purposely erected by the
Spaniards, the Colleges and Seminaries for the Eng-
lish at Douay and St. Omer, wherein are received
young gentlemen of the best families of England,
that by their means their kindred and friends in
that kingdom may have an obligation laid upon
them. And the chief care that is taken in these
Colleges and Seminaries is that the young
English gentlemen be catechised, nurtured, and
brought up in the belief and strong faith that
the late King of Spain had, and his children now

136 Life and Letters of [1601.

have, the true right of Succession to the crown
of England, and that it must necessarily be so for
the good of the Catholic Religion, not only in
England but also through all Christendom. And
when these young English gentlemen have done
their studies in humanity and are come to a
certain age, then, to make them up complete
Spaniards, they are transported from the Low
Countries into Spain, where they have other
Colleges for them, and are there instructed in
Philosophy and Divinity, and confirmed in the
said belief and holy faith that the kingdom of
England did belong to the late King Philip the
Second, and doth at this day belong unto his
children ; and after these young English gentle-
men have so finished their course of studies,
those of them which are known to be the per-
fectest Spaniards, and most zealous and firm, to
the Spanish Credo, are sent into England, tliere to
plant that faith and win to it such as have not
stirred from the country, as also to spy and give
notice to the Spaniards of what passes in Eng-
land, and their best advice concerning that which
they think ought and may be done to bring it
under the power of Spain, and likewise, if need
be, to sufier martyrdom as well or rather for the
Spanish faith than the Catholic religion. The
Spanish forces heretofore and lately sent into

i6oi.] Lady Arabella Stuart 137

Ireland are to this end as well in the meantime to
take what they can from the Queen as to make it
a bridge for themselves to go sometimes over into
England. Besides^ they are commodions of going
or sending from the Low Countries, from whence
there is but a short cut into England, as also
from the coasts of Portugal, Galicia and Biscay,
and by reason of the great number of ships that
they have in all those places.

'^ But with all these ambitious designs, the
Spaniards do foresee a main hindrance as well
from the English themselves as from the King
of Scotland, with his allies and confederates, and
the Hollanders, but especially from France, and
therefore, say they, the King of Spain will not
have England for himself, Ijut for his sister the
Infanta, or some other Prince, whom we shall
not suspect. And so have they persuaded the Pope
(his Holiness at least makes a shew as if he be-
lieved it), but the plain truth is, that the King
of Spain will have England to himself, and if he
cannot get it because of the resistance, he wishes
that the kingdom may come to his sister, or, if
she fails, to some prince of his blood, who being
helped by him may acknowledge himself beholden
to him for that kingdom, and be altogether at
his devotion against all others, and especially
against your Majesty and France, to whom the

1 38 Life and Letters of [1601,

Spaniards have not only emulation but a
mortal hatred.

^' The Pope (now to speak of his Holiness) and
his designs concerning the princes of Farma^ *

foreseeing and believing the said opposition which
is likely to be made against the King of Spain
and his sister, doth imagine that he may soon
bring it about to make the Duke of Parma, or
the Cardinal Famese, his brother. King of Eng-
land after the Queen's decease, according to the
distinction which I made at the beginning of this
letter in respect to Arbella. Your Majesty will
be easily persuaded that he wishes them that
greatness, because of their alliance with him;
and besides that, they are strong Catholics, and
held to be good mpderate princes, and in it his
Holiness would think he did a work well pleasing
to God and profitable to the Catholic religion.
But what ground hath the Pope for compassing *

about his hopes ? Indeed, he grounds himself
upon many things, and first upon the said colour
of justice, that these two princes are descended 1

from the house of Portugal by Mary their mother,
who was the eldest daughter of Edward, Infant
of Portugal, and son to King Emanuel, adding '

to this the aforesaid proposition, that the true
right of Succession to the crown of England be
devolved to the house of Portugal. And as the

1 6o I . ] Lady A rahella Stuart. 139

new Duke of Parma, who was called Renutio,
had a pretention to the Succession of the king-
dom of Portugal after the death of the Cardinal
Henry, and that before the King of Spain, so is
it now pretended that either he or the Cardinal
Pamese, his brother, ought to succeed to the
crown of England, in case at the least that the
King of Spain be not able to get the said king-
dom for himself or his sister, and as it is
thought by most it will be impossible for him ;
and now this is all the shew of justice which
gives a colour and pretext to the design, and
might incline a party of the English to accept of
either of these two. As for the forces and
means to maintain this right, such a one as it
is, against those who would oppose it, the Pope is
of opinion that the King of Spain, finding him-
self unable to do anything either for himself or
his sister, will easily be persuaded to employ his
so mighty forces, and all that the late King his
father hath left unto him, either of intelligences
or interests, with a good many of the English,
won at divers times and in many ways fox the
advancing one of the said princes of the house
of Parma, who are his cousins german once
removed and professed servants. His Holiness
believes also that the Archdukes in the Low
Countries will do the like when they perceive

140 Life and Letters of [1601.

they can do nothing for themselves; and that
besides the nobility^ the gentry, cities, and peoples
of the Low Countries, will favour these two
brethren of the house of Parma, by reason that
the said Low Countries have been governed with
a great deal of lenity, first by the Lady of Parma,
their grandmother, who did never consent that
the Earls of Egmont and Horn should be put
to death, and since by the Duke Alexander
their father, who left behind him a very good
name in those countries, and obliged an infinite
number of persons, and among them many Eng-
lish fied thither for a refuge. His Holiness is
also resolved to help these two princes with all
his strength of spiritual and temporal, and all
his credit and authority with the princes, cities,
and peoples that are Catholic. It is about four
years since his Holiness created a certain arch
priest, to whom all the ecclesiastics and Catholics
of the said kingdom might resort and address
themselves, and understand what is best to
be done for their preservation and the re-
establishing of the Catholic religion. And his
Holiness is persuaded by some, that this is the
likeliest way to make the English Catholics for-
ward in the eflTecting of his desires. And I can
assure your Majesty that his Holiness hath of late
sent three briefs to the nuncio whom he keeps in

i6oi.] Lady Arabella Stuart 141

the Low Countries, which are to be concealed till
he heareth news of the Queen^s death, and then to
be sent over into England, the one to the clergy,
the second to the nobility, and the third to the
canons, according to the several directions of the
said brief, by which the three estates of England
are admonishjed and exhorted to stand united
together, for the receiving a Catholic King whom
his Holiness will name unto them, such as they
shall think most pleasing, profitable, and honour-
able, and all this for the honour and glory of
God, the re-establishing the Catholic religion, and
the salvation of their souls.

" I have heretofore told your Majesty how his
Holiness hath given to the Cardinal Famese the
protection of England void by the death of the
Cardinal Cajetan, that all the English Catholics
who are in these parts, or have any business in
this court, may resort to him and give him
occasion of doing them good, and winning the
good liking and opinion of that nation.

" I have also heretofore made known to your
Majesty how the said Cardinal Famese keeps in
his service Arthur Pole, who is of royal blood of
England, and that the said Arthur is to make a
voyage into England the next spring by consent,
if not by commission, of his master and the Pope
himself. There may be many things and more

142 Life and Letters of [1601.

tending to tils design which we know not, for
they do what they can to keep them close, and who
knows but the Duke of Parma^s journey to the
Court of Spain and into Portugal may be to that
intent, especially if it be true that is said here, that
in his return he is to go through France ? Now
besides that his Holiness will help these two
princes with all his means, and will get them others^
help, he thinks that in those princes from whom he
can get no aid for them, he shall at the least
diminish the resistance and opposition which other-
wise they would make against them, and because
your Majesty^s opposition is most of all to be
feared, his Holiness thinks he hath deserved and
may hereafter deserve in many occasions so much
from your Majesty that if you will not help his
allies, at the least you do not oppose them, and
hath such confidence in your Majesty, that upon
it without coming to any particulars he hath
already sent you word by the Cardinal that he
wishes your Majesty and the King of Spain
would agree about a third, a Catholic prince, to
make him King of England after the Queen^s
decease. And though your Majesty made them
some favorable answer for the King of Scotland,
yet his Holiness is in hope that your Majesty
will be persuaded by reason of State not to fur-
ther the conjunction of the kingdoms of Eng-

i6oi.] Lady Arabella Stuart 143

land and Scotland in one person, considering
what great damage the English alone have some-
times done to the French more than all other
nations together, besides that the King of Scotland
is a near kinsman and friend to the princes of the
house of Lorraine, who have grown many in num-
ber and too great in power through the want of fore-
sight and the too great frailty of our late Kings,
and have lately invaded almost all France, it
being to be feared that they will never leave that
desire by reason of that inbred opinion of theirs
that the third race of our Kings, beginning with
Hugh Capet, hath usurped the kingdom of
France from them, and that the crown of France
doth of right belong to the house of Lorraine,
descending as they pretend, though falsely, from
Charlemagne. Hence his Holiness draws this
opinion, that your Majesty will rather admit for
King of England the Duke of Parma, or the
Cardinal Famese his brother, who have nothing
near England, neither in nor near France, than
the King of Scotland or the archduke, or any
such. And howbeit these two princes of Parma
are of kin and servants to the King of Spain, his
Holiness doth nevertheless believe your Majesty
wiU on the other side consider that they are his
allies, and are not of the worst nor of the nearest,
nor the best pleased with the King of Spain, and

144 Life and Letters of [1601.

that this house of Parma hath sometimes been
under the protection of the crown of France.
He would also persuade us that they have lost
neither the memory nor the gratitude of it, what
seeming soever they have been reduced and
forced to by the necessity of the times. And
indeed the Cardinal Famese, in the answer to a
letter that I had writ him upon the birth of my
Lord the Dauphin, did not forget, among other
occasions of his joy, to mention the obligations
which their house had to the crown of France, as
lie may perhaps have done in the letter which he
writ to your Majesty upon the subject. To these,
many other things may be added, as that, when
either of them should be made King of England,
he would not so much observe the will and interest
of the King of Spain, as think of establishing him-
self and keeping fair with his neighbours, and with
your Majesty, who might more than any other
annoy or help him.

'^ Now, sir, these are the considerations which
made me believe the probability of this design of
the Pope, since the first time that I was told it
from a very good place, and because I had divers
times touched of it in my former letters. I have
now gathered them all in this, adding to them
what I have learned since, and this is to perform
my promise of writing a letter of these things by

- i6oi.] Lady Arabella Stuart 145

itself. Whatsoever this be, it caniiot but con-
duce to the good of your Majesty to be ad-
vertised of what may come to pass, that so you
may provide a good while before, in a business of
so great importance, and be ready upon all
events.

" To this I can add nothing but assure your
Majesty that in all this I did not intend to
intrude myself to give any advice, directly or in-
directly, concerning the Succession of England,
much less which way it is fit for your Majesty
to incline, but only to shew the considerations,
which may have moved the Pope to think upon
these two brethren, and if I have writ upon it
heretofore, it hath not been without some ground
for it.

" Prom Rome, the 26th of November, 1601.'' *

* For an extract from a curious Italian MS. on this sub-
ject in possession of Sir Thomas Phillipps. See Appendix ii. 2.

VOL. I.

146 Life and Letters of [1601.

CHAPTER VI.

THE ENGLISH SUCCESSION.

HE Right Divine of Kings'' is a
plirase singularly inappropriate to
be used in our country. From the
days when the old Celtic Princes stained the
forest leaves with blood in their struggles for the
Right by Power, through ages that followed of
Roman, Saxon, Danish, and Norman rulers, the
proud English people have laughed at Royalty as
in iany way connected with Divinity. Even the
laws of primogeniture have been constantly dis-
regarded, and so lightly have they been held,
that, in the early Norman days, the eldest son
was as coolly set aside when he had com-
mitted no fault, as when his crimes demanded
such a punishment. The right of the son to
succeed his father in his grandfather's heritage
was a matter of grave dispute, and frequently
decided in favour of the father's brother, as a
nearer relation to the grandfather than the grand-
json. By the time of Edward III., however, the

i6oi.] Lady Arabella Stuart 147

crown of England had become so firmly settled
on him, that all other pretenders sank in ob-
scnrity, and it was among his descendants alone
that the future claimants arose. Of all sub-
jects genealogies are, perhaps, the most weari-
some, and much patience is required to leave the
present actions of men, and wander into shadowy
regions with no other purpose than to disen-
tangle a mass of names. Yet this uninteresting
task must be performed by all who would gain a
clear idea of the history of England, and is
especially necessary to the comprehension of the
present volumes. From the sons of Edward III.,
and especially of John of Gaunt, came the con-
flicting claims that for centuries plunged England
into civil war, that gave excuses for foreign inva-
sion, and hung a terror over every king that sat
upon the throne. These kings knew the defects
in their titles, and that they reigned, not by any
infallible authority, but by the suflerance of their
subjects, and were careful in their most outra-
geous moments to show due reverence to the
real power that upheld them. It was reserved
for the weak brain of a Stuart to pass this
limit, and what was the consequence all the
world knows.

Leaving those sons of Edward III. who died
without issue, five remain, viz. : —

L 2

148 Life and Letters of [1601.

1. Edward, the Black Prince.

2. Lionel, Duke of Clarence.

3. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

4. Edmund Langley, Duke of York.

5. Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester.
The line of the Black Prince being extinct at

the death of Kichard II., according to the laws
of primogeniture, the next heir would be found
among the descendants of Lionel, Duke of
Clarence. Like the Black Prince, Lionel died
before his father, leaving an only child, a
daughter, Philippa, who married Edward Mor-
timer, Earl of March. Her granddaughter
married the son of Edmund Langley, Duke of
York, and thus brought her claim to the house
of York, where it slept, doubtless disturbed by
many dreams, till the reign of Henry VI.

According to all modern ideas of hereditary
succession, the house of York, or as it should be
called, the house of Clarence, had the undoubted
right; but, according to the opinion that the
nearest relation to the king ought to succeed
him, then John of Gaunt was the true heir to
Edward III. after the death of the Black Prince
and the Duke of Clarence. So well aware were
the Black Prince and the King of this feeling,
that the Black Prince exacted from his father a
promise that, in case of his death, his son Richard

i5oi.] Lady Arabella Stuart 149

should succeed him, to the exclusion of John of
Gaunt; and on the death of the Black Prince,
the King deemed it necessary to procure an Act
of Parliament by which Richard was declared
his successor. But though John of Gaunt
yielded, in the opinion of many Richard was
only a usurper of his uncle's throne, and conse-
quently when, before the death of Richard, Henry
Bolingbroke assumed the throne, in the general
opinion he claimed nothing but his right, seeing
that, if John of Gaunt had been king, Boling-
broke would have been the lawful heir to the
crown. John of Gaunt was married three times,
and it was by the descendants of his three wives
that the claims of the house of Lancaster became
so multiplied, and were even carried into foreign
countries and vested in foreign princes.

The first wife of John of Gaunt was his cousin
Blanche, daughter of the Duke of Lancaster, who,
inheriting her father's title, brought it to her
husband, and thus John of Gaunt became Duke
of Lancaster. By Blanche he had three children,
viz., Henry Bolingbroke, who succeeded him, and
two daughters, viz., Philippa, who was married
to John I. of Portugal, and Elizabeth, who was
married to John Holland, Duke of Exeter. On
the extinction of the line of Bolingbroke by the
murder of Prince Edward, son to Henry VI.,

150 . Life and Letters of [i6oi.

the descendants of Philippa, the Portuguese
queen, claimed the English crown.

But another race existed. On the death of
Blanche, John of Gaunt had married Constance,
the daughter and heir of Peter the Cruel of
Castile, and as he had taken the title of Duke of
Lancaster from his first wife, he now assumed
that of King of Castile from his second. By
Constance of Castile he had one daughter,
Catherine, who marrying Henry III. of Castile,
became the mother of the line of Isabella the
Catholic, and thus of Philip II., who claimed a
direct descent from John of Gaunt.

The third wife of John of Gaunt was
Catherine Swynford, a Flemish woman of no
family, who became the mistress of John of Gaunt,
and the mother of three illegitimate sons, viz.
John, Duke of Somerset, Thomas, Marquis of
Dorset and Duke of Exeter, and Henry, Bishop
of Winchester and Cardinal; and one daughter,
who married the Earl of Westmoreland. On
the marriage of John of Gaunt with Catherine
Swynford, he obtained an Act of Parliament to
legitimatize these four children, and they thus
took their place among the claimants to the crown,
certainly, we might think, with a very poor chance
of success. Yet, to the exclusion of the legiti-
mate descendants of the other wives, the des-

i.6oi.] Lady Arabella Stuart 151

cendant of John, Duke of Somerset, Henry Tudor,
Earl of Eichmond, claimed and obtained the
English crown ; and though he strengthened his
claim by his alliance with Elizabeth, representa-
tive of York, it must be remembered that he
never asserted his right to the crown through
her, or in any other way than as an heir of
Lancaster, declaring that he ought to be pre-
ferred before the descendants of John of Gaunt's
first wives, seeing that he came from a son and
they from a daughter of the duke. As the Duke
of Somerset was never considered a lawful heir,
even though afterwards legitimatized in England,
a claim resting on such a statement must be
pronounced doubtful, and certainly unjust. It
was scarcely to be expected that the descend-
ants of the two first wives should admit it, and
as long as there was a party to the claims of
Lancaster, the legitimate heir to that house was
to be sought in the descendant of John of Gaunt^s
first wife. That claim was now vested in a
foreigner, and, like that of York, in the first
days, was allowed to sleep awhile. It is remark-
able that Henry VIII., who is by some considered
to have divorced his first wife, and married his
third the very day after the execution of his
second, for no other motive than that of leaving
the English Succession fr*ee from difficulties.

152 Life and Letters of [1601.

should have been the very man to have fearfully
added to them, and inserted another knot in the
already tangled skein.

On the death of his three children without
issue, the crown came naturally to the descend-
ants of his eldest sister, Margaret, to whom Henry
had an intense personal dislike. Yet, for no better
reason than this dislike, one of Henry^s last acts
was to make a will leaving the Succession (after
the deaths of his own children without issue)
to the descendants of his younger sister Mary,
who was a favourite, thus entailing a possible
civil war and certain jealousy on the unhappy
descendants of the two sisters. I shall enlarge
more fully on the fate of one of the victims to
this act of the patriotic monarch in another
chapter. The people of England were made of
sterner material than to be left by the testament
of any king as so many goods and chattels, but the
result of the will of Henry VIII. was hatred, im-
prisonment, and death to individuals, and afforded
a precedent to his son Edward VI., who, ra his turn,
left the crown to his favourite. Lady Jane Grey.

As regards the English Succession (I speak of
that alone), no more politic match could have
been formed than that of Philip II. and Mary.
It was the true union of the houses of York and
Lancaster. Mary was the direct representative

i6oi.] Lady Arabella Stuart 153

of the house of York through her grandmother ;
Philip was a lineal descendant, by his mother, the
eldest daughter of the King of Portugal, of
Blanche, first wife of John of Gaunt, and, by his
father, of Constance, the second wife. It is true
that he was not the acknowledged heir of the
last King of Portugal, as that monarch had left
a younger son, but, as far as consanguinity went,
the foundation on which the house of Lancaster
had always rested their claims, he was the true
representative, and a child of Philip and Mary
would have had a greater claim to the English
throne, on every hereditary ground, than any
king since the time of Edward III. If, however,
the Succession to the crown of Portugal were
traced in the male line, then the direct descend-
ant of Blanche of Lancaster, first wife of John
of Gaunt, was Ranuzio, Duke of Parma, to whom
the Pope had the first idea of marrying Arabella
Stuart, and who was willing to renounce his claims
in favour of his brother the Cardinal. It was
therefore not without grounds that Farnese laid
claim to the English crown, nor that Elizabeth
saw in his pretensions the rallying point for a
league against her, and in this state of affairs
it was perfectly just that Arabella should be
forbidden to leave the kingdom, a mandate which
she did not in the least dispute. With such

154 Life and Letters of [1601.

conspiracies and claims abroad^ and with so many-
parties among the nobles at home, Elizabeth
wisely turned to the true source of her strength,
the only power that could possibly have carried
her safely through the conflicting storms. When
the ambassador of Philip reminded her of her
obligations to him, she answered, " For her pre-
sent prospects she was indebted neither to the
king, nor to the English lords, however much
these latter might vaunt their fidelity. It was
to the people that she owed them, and on the
people she relied/^

^' The Queen,'^ says Sir John Harrington, "did
once ask my wife in merry sort how she kept my
good wiU and love, which I did always maintain
to be truly good, towards her and my childrbn ?
My Mall in wise and discreet manner told her
Highness she had confidence in her husband^s
understanding and courage, well founded on her
own steadfastness not to offend or thwart, but to
cherish and obey ; hereby she did persuade her
husband of her own affections, and in so doing
did command his. ' Go to, go to, mistress,^ said
the Queen, 'you are wisely bent, I find; after
such sort do I keep the goodwill of all my hus-
bands, my good people, for if they did not rest
assured of some special love toward them, they
would not readily yield me such good obedience.' "

i6oi.] Lady Arabella Stuart 155

The most insidious enemies of Elizabeth were
the Jesuits. They first came to England in the
year 1580, and from that time distilled a secret
poison over the length and breadth of the land.
They entered by ^^ secret creeks and landing-
places/^ and, clad in every species of disguise,
insinuated themselves into every comer where they
could .work mischief. Sometimes they appeared
as soldiers or sailors, at others as private gentle-
men, merchants, travellers from foreign parts, or
^'gallants with feathers,^^ and clad in velvet.
Among their employes were dissolute young men,
who, either from poverty or crime, had become
fugitives, and were ready to adopt the basest
means to earn a livelihood without honest labour.
Othfers were young Eoman Catholics, who, en-
raged by the early persecutions of Elizabeth, and
educated by her bitterest enemies, were persuaded
that, to obey the mandates of the Pope against
the Queen, was literally to serve (xod rather
than Mammon ; and that, exerting their utmost
against Antichrist in the person of the Queen,
and endeavouring to place a Catholic, even though
a foreigner, on her throne, was the purest way of
serving God and their country. The means were
sanctified by the end. Consequently it was
deemed no disgrace by Englishmen to accept
pensions and presents at the hands of the King

156 Life and Letters of [ 1 6p i .

of Spain and the Pope, nor any dishonour to
obtain a footing by any amount of falsehood in
private families, where, by means of eavesdropping,
bribery, and cunning, the weak members were
discovered and turned to foreign service. Armed
with Papal bulls, and indulgences, and threats,
they worked on the weaker minds of the commu-
nity, and prepared them for the perpetration of
the basest crimes. The Queen^s life was re-
peatedly aimed at. A book was published ex-
horting her women ^^ to commit the like against
her that Judith did to Holofemes.^' She was
shot at as she passed down the river in her barge.
She was declared a usurper, whom it was a pious
act to get rid of by any means. Her cooks were
tempted to poison her; and (remembering • the
recent murder of Henry III. of France by a
Jesuit, and the subsequent similar fate of his
successor, how, no farther back than the last
reign, the Roman Catholics had held supreme
power in England, and their overwhelming force
on the Continent) Elizabeth may well be excused
for many measures that in the present day would
be the height of tyranny. The Protestant re-
ligion has long been strong enough to stand
without external aid in England. We want no
laws to support it, no swords to defend it ; and
so far from any courage being needed on its

i6oi.] Lady Arabella Stuart 157

behalf; we can insult with impunity the highest
authority who dares to diflfer from it.

But the days of Elizabeth were very different.
Protestantism was in its infancy ; darkness and
terror hung around its cradle, and its early pro-
tectors may be pardoned, if amid the host of seen,
and still greater host of unseen, but suspected
dangers, they struck rather indiscriminately, and
required pledges that were in reality not exacted
by bigotry so much as by anxiety for the safety
of the realm. The fires of Smithfield, the mas-
sacre of St. Bartholomew, the autos-da-fi of
Spain, the fiendish cruelties of Alva in the
Netherlands, showed the spirit manifested by the
Catholics towards the Protestants in the age of
Elizabeth. What wonder if the latter felt that it
was no time for half measures or for hesitation ?
When we remember that the Catholics, by means
of the Jesuits, were doing their very best to in-
troduce into England the horrors perpetrated on
the Continent, and that, by the murder of the King
of France, they had proved no crime too great to
be committed by them to promote their schemes^
we shall be more ready to admit that the perse-
cution of the Catholics by Queen Elizabeth was
in reality nothing but an act of self-defence, and
therefore not for a moment to be compared with
the bigoted cruelties of Mary and Philip. The

158 Life and Letters of [1601.

strongest of the weapons of the Jesuits was the
disputed Succession to the crown. By this they
hoped to split the kingdom into parties, and
thereby weaken the allegiance to the Queen.
By this they hoped to crown a puppet of the
Pope, who would prove simply an agent to carry
out all their schemes ; and the uncertainty as to
how far Arabella Stuart was willing to play this
part, or whether she was wholly innocent, was
not experienced by Elizabeth alone. In 1601,
Lord Henry Howard writes to the Earl of Mar :
^^ My Lord of Shrewsbury, of whose idol's (Ara-
bella's) sublimation, or at the least of a purpose
to make her higher by as many steps as to ascend
a scaffold.'' *

This is the first indication, whether true or
false, of the relations of Arabella forgetting their
usual caution. The next year we find an allu-
sion by the same writer, which is worthy of note,
as being written long before Sir Walter Raleigh
was accused of plotting on behalf of Arabella.
Mary Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, was thought
to be quite as ambitious, but far less cautious
than the Dowager Bess; and referring to the
former. Lord Howard writes to Mr. Edward
Bruce: "The league is very strong between
Sir Walter Raleigh and my Lady of Shrewsbury,
* Cecir>^ " Secret Correspondence."

i6oa.] . Lady Arabella Stuart. 169

and Sir Walter Raleigh's wife. She is a most
dangerous woman, and full of her father's in-
ventions/' *

And now the report reached Eling James that
Arabella had become so far entangled by the
plotters as to renounce the Protestant religion,
and he wrote the following kindly words to Lord
Henry Howard : —

^^ I am from my heart sorry for this accident
fallen to Arbell, but as nature enforceth me to
love her as the creature nearest of kin to me
next my own children, so would I, for her own
weal, that such order were taken as she might be
preserved from evil company, and that evil in-
clined persons might not have access unto her to
supplant, abusing of the frailty of her youth and
sex j for if it be true, as I am credibly informed,
that she is lately moved by the persuasion of
the Jesuits to change her religion and declare
herself Catholic, it may easily be judged that she
hath been very evil attended on by them that
should have had greater care of her, when per-
sons so odious, not only to all good Englishmen,
but to all the rest of the world, Spain only ex-
cepted, should haye access to have conferred with
her at such leisure as to have disputed and
moved her in matters of religion."

* CeciVs " Secret Correspondence."

160 Life and Letters of [1602.

This letter is the strongest presumptive evi-
dence that I have been able to discover in favour
of the assertion that Arabella was a Roman
Catholic. It proves decisively that she was
educated as a Protestant. If the person who
" credibly informed^^ James of Arabella's conver-
sion told the truth, it was a truth involving a
far greater matter than a mere change of creed.
In such a case, at such a time, and under such
circumstances, it might be taken as the proof of
her guilt and the justice of the suspicions of the
Queen. To become a Catholic at such a moment
was to become a conspirator aided by foreign
gold and foreign powers.

But not only is the evidence offered by this
letter merely presumptive, but later on we shall
be able to show that, in England at least, she was
not considered to have changed her creed. In
our own day, when the matter is not of the
slightest importance, when, if the greatest nobles
in the land were to become Roman Catholics,
the affairs of the kingdom would not change by
a hair's breadth, we know that, from time to
time, the cry is raised without the smallest
foundation that some titled personage has become
a popish convert. But in the time of Arabella,
such consequences followed upon conversion, and,
more especially in her case, so many wished for her

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart 161

conversion, that the propensity to circulate these
groundless stories was ten times as great. Both the
ambitious Catholics and the friends of James were
interested in the conversion of Arabella, and to
their excited feelings rather than to any reality
we must ascribe a tale that is utterly uncorro-
borated by any of the letters written by her, or
those most intimately acquainted with her.

But another event now took place, one that
roused the hatred of Elizabeth and eventually
that of James, for reasons that will be hereafter
explained at length.

While foreign princes were busy proposing
royal bridegrooms and forming ambitious schemes
in which Arabella was to bear the principal part,
she herself, who was dazzled by none of these,
was accused of an act which to modem ideas
appears extraordinary, but which, judged by the
customs of the age, the only just mode of judg-
ing, would have been simply in accordance with
those customs.

In the month of February, 1603, when Ara-
bella was twenty-seven years old, she was ar-
rested by order of Queen Elizabeth on the charge
of attempting to betroth herself to William Sey-
mour, grandson of the Earl of Hertford.

In order to show why this betrothal should
so have affected the Queen, and to account

VOL. I. M

162 Life and Letters of [1603.

for the consequences that followed, we must
leave Arabella for a time, to follow a history as
sad as any that ever was created by romance,
and which forms one of the darkest spots on the
character of the great Queen.

^SS^'l Lady Arabella Stuart. 163

CHAPTER VII.

THE STORY OF KATHERINE GREY.

HE wUl of Henry VIII. has already been
mentioned. In the 35th year of the
reign of that monarch, a statute was
passed enabling him to dispose of the Succession
to the crown according to his pleasure. Henry
took advantage of this authority to disinherit the
line of his elder sister, the Scotch queen, Mar-
garet, and to substitute the descendants of his
younger sister, Mary, Queen Dowager of France,
who, on the death of her first husband, had
married Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, the
favourite of Henry.

Mary left two daughters, viz., Frances, married
to Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, and Eleanor,
married to the Earl of Cumberland, Frances
became the mother of three daughters, viz., the
Lady Jane Grey, married to Lord Guildford
Dudley ; second, the Lady Katherine ; third, the
Lady Mary. The Duchess Frances renounced
her rights, or rather claims, to the Succession in

M 2

164 . Life and Letters of [1558.

favour of her daughter Jane, who was appointed
heir by Edward VI. ; and during the last year of
that monarches life, Katherine, the second
daughter, was married to Henry, Lord Herbert,
eldest son of the Earl of Pembroke, who thought
to win a great prize by marrying a princess of
the blood royal, and a sister of the future
queen.

The melancholy fate of Lady Jane Grey
shattered these golden prospects. The house of
Grey lay low in the dust, and an alliance with it
was fraught with danger and the certain disfavour
of the gloomy Queen Mary. Katherine was only
fifteen years old at the time of her marriage.
She was the favourite sister of Lady Jane, whose
last act the night before her execution was to
write a letter on the leaf of her Greek Testament
for her young sister Katherine. The bloody
death of Jane was soon followed by that of the
Duke of Suffolk; and, in the course of a few
weeks, Katherine had to sustain another loss,
that was accompanied by such baseness and
insult as, in a more fiery spirit, would almost
have extinguished the last sense of grief. At
the very time when her young heart was crushed
with the overwhelming loss of her sister and .
father, her husband, of whom it is impossible to
think without unmitigated scorn and indignation.

1558.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 165

divorced her, in order to retain the favour of
Queen Mary. Katherine uttered no word of
complaint or remonstrance, though she wept
silently so bitterly that a lasting testimony of
her grief remained in the paleness of her cheeks
as long as she lived. She resumed her maiden
name, and, by command of Queen Mary, retained
her place as lady of honour to the Queen.

At the Court of Mary, she formed an intimate
and romantic friendship with the Lady Jane
Seymour. Jane Seymour was the eldest daugh-
ter of the Protector Somerset, and had been
destined by her father to become the bride of
Edward VI. She received a learned education,
and, by means of Somerset, was on familiar
terms with Edward, with whom she corresponded
in Latin. "With her sisters, she rendered her-
self famous by some Latin verses on the death of
Margaret of Valois, which were published at
Paris, and translated into several languages, and
she bade fair, in time, to rival the reputation of
Lady Jane Grey.* But, like those of Katherine,
her hopes perished on the scaffold of her father,
and the similarity of their fate doubtless tended to
deepen their mutual sympathy, and draw the
two orphan girls more closely together.

* See a letter of Jane Seymour in Mrs. Everett Green's
" Letters of Eoyal and Illustrious Ladies."

166 Life and Letters of ['559.

ThoTigli three years younger than Katherine,
Janets was the ruling mind. Her name, her
acquirements, so like to those of the lost Jane
Grey, were sure to bind her to Katherine, who
recognised her superior in everything but love,
and her equal even in that. It was another
instance of the stronger ruling the weaker mind.
But in this case the strong mind was one of the
noblest texture. All its strength and fervour
were exerted for those it loved, and in the short
life of Jane Seymour we find recorded not a
single selfish act to her Mend, or the least
hesitation to aid in her happiness from fear of
any consequences to herself.

The two girls became inseparable. Katherine
leaned her whole soul on Jane. To her she
spoke . of her past griefs, of her dead sister, of
her strange widowhood, and from her she received
the tenderest sympathy and the softest consola-
tion. When Jane visited her mother she spoke
of Katherine, and revealed those inner graces of
her friend which were hidden from the world,
and were of necessity veiled in the gloomy and
suspicious Court.

Suddenly Jane was seized with an iUness
which obliged her to be sent home. Katherine
obtained permission to accompany her, and, with
her gentle friend and the mother of the maids

^559'] Lady Arabella Stuart. 167

of honour^ Jane was carried in a horse litter to
Hanwortli, the residence of her mother, the
Duchess of Somerset.

Jane slowly recovered, and, during her con-
valescence, Katherine, released from the restraints
of the Court, appeared in all her.sweet and simple
character, and proved the undoubted truth, that
those women who are the kindest and most
loving to woman are also the most faith&l and
unselfish to man.

Edward Seymour, afterwards Earl of Hertford,
and eldest son of the Protector Somerset, was one
year older than Katherine. The most intense
attachment subsisted between him and his sister
Jane, and each was ready to make any sacrifice for
the happiness of the other. Many conversations,
we may be sure, had passed between them on
the subject of Katherine, and Seymour was
already ftJl of that pity which is so near akin
to love. The personal acquaintance with Kathe-
rine soon gave a colour to this feeling, and when
she came under his mother^s roof, and he watched
her gentle ways and attachment to his sister, hi»
sympathy deepened into tenderness and melted
into love. The noble character of his sister
had inspired him with a deep respect for women,
and though his mother complains of him as
^'troublesome,'^ and Lord Burghley received a

168 Life and Letters of [i559-

letter from the tutor of his son to the eflFect
that Seymour hindered him in his studies^ yet
the manner of his wooing was such as betokened
anything but that of the conceited young gal-
lants of his day.

Very few men would have stood in awe of
the simple^ humble-minded Katherine. In her
unfortunate circumstances, the daughter of a
beheaded traitor, and herself a rejected and
contemptuously divorced wife, the member of a
disgraced family, most would have felt quite
sure of her, and that she would receive, an offer
of marriage from one of the proudest houses in
the land with profound gratitude at the least.
But Seymour manifested no such self-confidence,
and was more timid in preferring his suit to her
now, in her days of darkness and grief, than the
son of Pembroke had been, when, as the sister
of a regal heiress, she stood at the summit of
her prosperity. She had no remarkable beauty,
no brilliant talents, but little wealth — ^nothing
but love to give him in return for all he offered,
for as to her royal blood, that was the very
danger that had driven away her husband on
account of the jealousy it occasioned the Queen.
But Seymour weighed that love, and thought it
worth more than all the world besides, if only
he could win it, and he esteemed it so precious

^59-] Lady Arabella Stuart. 169

that lie thought nothing he could offer worthy
to set against it. And so, not daring to speak
to her himself, he ^^ first procured with his sister
to break with the said Lady Katherine touching
marriage/^*

Then Katherine confessed to Jane that she,
too, had not been brought in such close contact
to remain untouched, and that her heart was
Seymour^s already, even before he asked for it.

And now the great barrier was broken down,
and that mysterious word was spoken which re-
vealed the truth to these two illustrious hearts.
They solemnly promised to be true to each other,
and Seymour gave Katherine a ring, made of
five links of gold, with a pointed diamond in the
fifth link, and engraved on the other four links,
a line on each, was the following posy of Sey-
mour's composition : —

" As circles five by art compact shew but one Ring in sight.
So trust uniteth faithfull raindes with knot of secret might,
Whose force to breake but greedie Death noe wight pos-

sesseth power,
As time and sequels well shall prove. My Ring can say

no more."

Parents at that time were comparative stran-
gers to their children, and, indeed, treated them
as such. The form, and ceremony, and cold
respect exacted were anything but calculated to

* Examination of the Earl of Hertford, Harl.MSS. 249.

J 70 Life and Letters of [^559-

win a child's confidence. Marriages were gene-
rally arranged by the parents, solely with regard
to worldly circumstances; the heart or head
had little to do with the matter. The only
remaining parent of Katherine is included in the
description given of both her parents by Lady
Jane Grey to Roger Ascham. From her we
learn that the Duchess Frances was ^^ sharp and
severe/' in whose presence, '^ whether she did
speak, keep silence, sit, stand or go, eat, drink, ,
be merry or sad, be sewing or playing, drawing,
or doing anything else, she must do it, as it were,
in such weight, measure, and number, even so
perfectly as God made the world, or else she was
so sharply taunted, so cruelly threatened, yea,
presently, sometimes with pinches, nips, and
bobs, so without measure misordered, that she
thought herself in hell.''

The mother of Seymour was Anne, Duchess of
Somerset, who is described by Sir John Hayward
as a " mannish, or rather a divelish woman, for
many imperfectibUities intoUerable, but for pride
monstrous, exceeding subtle and violent." Per-
sonal spite has doubtless coloured the latter
description, but evidence suflBcient remains of
the characters of the two mothers to prevent any
surprise that Seymour '' did use the Lady Jane,
his sister, for the only instrument or means to

''55^t] Lady Arabella Stuart. 171

furtlier Ms purpose/' and, being questioned
whether he did impart this matter unto the Lady
his Mother, he said " he never did/'*

To maintain the same coldness to each other
in the same house, proved too hard a task for
Seymour and Katherine ; and the Lady Mother
of Seymour, ^'perceiving familiarity and good-
will between the Lady Katherine and him, did
often admonish him to abstain from her company,
whereupon he answered his mother that young
folks meaning weU might well accompany to-
gether, and that both in that house and also in
the Court, he trustad he might use her company,
being not forbidden by the Queen's express com-
mandment/'t The betrothal was kept a profound
secret from all but the faithful rister, and Jane
and Katherine returned to Court.

In 1558, Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne,
and hope revived the hearts of the lovers. The
Queen treated Seymour with marked favour,
restoring to him most of the estates and
titles forfeited at his father's death, and recog-
nising him as Earl of Hertford. The Duchess
Frances of SuflTolk, who had been one of the
sternest and most rigid of parents, had become
softened by misfortune and by a second marriage

* Examination of the Earl of Hertford, Harl. MSS. 249.
t Ibid.

172 . Life and Letters of [i559-

with Adrian Stokes, a gentleman of her house-
hold; and her declining health probably made
her wish to see her daughters settled before her
death. Seymour, now Earl of Hertford, there-
fore, without revealing the fact that he and
Katherine had long ago already betrothed them-
selves to each other, rode to the Charter House,
the residence of the Duchess Frances, '^ and there
he moved the said Lady Frances to grant her
good-will that he might marry the Lady Katherine,
her daughter/^ The Duchess thought him '^ a
very fit husband " for her daughter, and imme-
diately sent for her to retun^ from Court, if the
Queen would give her leave. Katherine, ignorant
of what awaited her, obtained th6 desired per-
mission, and, on her arrival at home, her mother
told her that '\ now she had provided a husband
for her if she would like well of it, willing her
to frame her fancy and good- will that way.^^* Then
Katherine, without referring to the past, dutifully
signified her willingness to accept the husband
provided for her ; and the Duchess told Hertford
that the Queen^s permission was the only thing to
be obtained, and that she herself would write to
her Majesty, asking her good-will to the marriage.

The rough draft of the letter to the Queen
was actually made, but before the Duchess had

* Examination of Katherine Hertford, Harl. MSS. 249.

3559'J Lady Arabella Stuart 173

time to copy and send it to the Queen, she was
seized with a sudden access of illness, and soon
after expired. She was buried with great pomp
in Westminster Abbey, where a marble monu-
ment, erected by Queen Elizabeth, commemorates
the Duchess Frances, the daughter of the French
Queen, and the mother of Jane and Katherine
Grey.

The death of the Duchess of course deferred the
application to the Queen, and before .a due period
had elapsed. Queen Elizabeth had not only given
such unmistakeable proofs of her aversion to
matrimony, but also of her personal dislike to
her cousin Katherine, that the lovers feared that
to ask her consent would result in obtaining her
decisive prohibition.

The jealous fears with which Elizabeth always
regarded a possible successor, were naturally
stronger at the beginning of her reign, when her
throne rested on a precarious foundation, and
she had had no time to ingratiate herself with
the people. The will of her father, it is true,
was mislaid purposely or accidentally, and the
question of the signature was a disputed point,
but the probability is that Elizabeth in her own
heart never doubted the genuineness of the will,
and it is certain that it was recognised by those
she feared the most. Philip II, so openly acknow-

174 Life and Letters of [i559.

ledged the pretensions of Lady Katherine, who,

according to this will, was heiress-presumptive to

the crown of England, that it was even reported

that he had offered a sum of money to any one

who would bring her to Spain * The Spanish

ambassador, De Feria, was on intimate terms

with her. Writing to the King of Spain, he

says : — '' The Lady Katherine is a good friend

of mine, and talks to me in confidence. The

Queen, she says, does not like to think of her as

her possible successor. The late Queen took her

iiito the privy chamber and was kind to her.

She complains that now she is out of favour and

finds nothing but discourtesy. I keep on good ^

terms with my Lady Katherine; she promises

for her part not to change her religion, and not

marry without my consent.^^ "j"

The last sentence has been alleged as a proof
of Katherine's intrigues against the Queen, and
of her willingness to T)ecome a Roman Catholic.
That Katherine, treated with repulsive coldness
by the Queen, and losing hope of obtaining her
permission to her union with the object of her
love, should have greeted the advances of a
powerful ambassador, who wished to become her

* Froude*s " Hist, of England," vii. p. 93 ; Camden, ii.
p. 373; Wright's "Elizabeth."

t Fronde's " Hist, of Eng." vii. p. 70.

I559-] Lady Arabella Stuart. 175

friend was natural enongh. To the firiendless,
any protector seems welcome; and Katherine^s was
not the nature to penetrate deep political designs
behind the mask of friendship. That she should
have given utterance to reproaches against her
royal cousin was natural too, but that those
reproaches had any reference to a plot against
Elizabeth, requires stronger proof than mere
assertion. And no proof whatever has been
adduced of a plot on the part of Katherine that
could afford the shadow of an excuse for the
treatment she received at the hands of Elizabeth.
It was not ambition, but love in its truest sense,
that wrecked the life of this unfortunate scion
of the house of Tudor.

But though dwelling beneath the dark shadow
of the royal frown, terribly significant in those
days of despotism, the young Earl clung to his
hearths choice, and, to use the words of Katherine,
'^ the love did continue or rather increased be-
tween the Earl and her, with sundry meetings
between them as time might serve, and as folks
of that sort will do without making any creature
living of their counsel, saving the Lady Jane,
and one Elyne, the servant of the said Lady
Jane.^^

^^ Tokens ^' and ^^ sweet words ^' were constantly
exchanged by the aid of the same faithful mes-

176 Life and Letters of [^559-

senger, when suddenly a cloud more black than
even the anger of the Queen rose over the devoted
pair. Some person informed Lady Katherine
that the Earl, her true and noble Hertford, was
at that very moment paying his addresses to
another lady.

Katherine was very humble-minded, but, if
pride had not awakened then, she would have
been no true woman, and have proved that she
had never truly loved. She forbade Hertford
her presence, and broke the engagement, and
Hertford was at liberty — jfree from the entangle-
ment of which he had had ample time to repent,
if he thought of prudence and worldly wisdom.
But the Earl besought Katherine to grant him
an interview, in which he said he would prove
his truth. Katherine " was very willing to hear
him,^' desiring ^^ nothing more ;* and when he
came to see her, he convinced her that he had
been slandered, and as Jie said, to prevent further
suspicion, and because she should not think that
he intended to mock her, he asked her to marry
him as soon as the Queen should come next
to London, if a convenient time might be
found for the purpose,^' " and then,^^ he
added, " should she be sure and out of all

* Examination of the Earl and Countess of Hertford,
Harl. MSS. 249.

1 560.] L)sfdy A rabella Stuart * 177

doubt/^* This was all said in the hearing of the
Lady Jane.

Then Katherine answered, that ^'weighing
his long suit and good-will borne to her, she
was content to marry him the next time the
Queen should go abroad and leave her and
Lady Jane behind/' She then confessed that
his love was not greater than hers, and " with-
out any other ceremony/' says the Earl, ^^ but
kissing and embracing and joining their hands
together,''t they separated.

It was some time before the desired oppor-
tunity arrived. But at last the day came. The
Queen appointed a hunting expedition to Eltham,
and Katherine and Jane, with some other maids
of honour, were to be left behind at Whitehall.
Jane immediately sent word to her brother that the
propitious hour had arrived. The Earl then at
once gave orders to Fortescue, his gentleman
usher, to send away all his servants on different
errands the next day, so that the coast might be
clear, and his orders were obeyed by all except
William Powell, the cook, and Jenkins Crisp, the
groom, who ^' did say and report that there was
good-will between the Earl and Lady Katherine,''

* Examination of the Earl and Countess of Hertford^.
Harl. MSS. 249.

t Ibid.
VOL. I. N

178 * Life and Letters of [1560.

and who may well be supposed to have been
neither blind, deaf, nor specially dull of com-
prehension at this particular time.

Early in the morning, the Queen and her
train departed to Eltham, to spend the day in
hunting, and, about an hour after, Katherine and
Jane stole down the steps of Whitehall Palace, and
unaccompanied by a single attendant, they walked
along the shore of the river, the tide being out,
and, without meeting a single person, soon arrived
at the water-gate of the EarFs house in Cannon
Bow. They then ascended the steps, and passing
the kitchen window where the cook and the groom
were slily peeping, they entered a back door, and
were received by the Earl in his private apart-
ment.

No preparations had been made for the wed-
ding, secrecy being the great object; and so
agitated were the bride and bridegroom, that they
both solemnly swore afterwards, that they were un-
able to remember what dress either wore on that
eventful day. They could not speak, but waited
silently in each other's presence, whUe Lady Jane
went to fetch the priest whom she had under-
taken to provide. She soon returned, bringing
with her ^^ a fair-complexioned man with an au-
burn beard, of a meane stature, dressed in a long
gowne faced with budge, the collar thereof turned

15^0.] Lady Arabella Stuart 179

down/^ — a Lutheran priest, probably a refugee
from the Netherlands. He was unknown both
to the Earl and Katherine, Jane having arranged
the ceremony with him beforehand. He then
performed the marriage ceremony according to
the service of the Common Prayer-book.

Did not the whole subsequent conduct of the
Earl utterly refute such a suspicion, it might
almost be supposed that he wished to render the
marriage uncertain.

But the real truth is that the perfect con-
fidence and honour of both parties were so fixed
and romantic that they forgot the importance of
other circumstances which the law requires, and
which can seriously afiect the rights of others.
There was no one to give away the bride, the
only witness to the marriage ceremony was Lady
Jane; and not only were the priest^s name and.
address unknown to both the Earl and Katherine,
but they forgot to notice his countenance suf-
ficiently to be able to recognise him again. It
was the Lady Jane who brought him, gave him
ten pounds for performing the ceremony, led him
away, and reserving this mystery to herself, dis-
missed him without the knowledge of the Earl.

After the wedding. Lady Jane took upon her-
seK the office of sewer and cup-bearer, and
oflFered " Confects and other Banquetting meats

180 Life and Letters of [156 1.

and Beere and Wyne npon the Cup-boarde/*
but Katherine, now Countess of Hertford, ^' drank
none, neither saw any person that brought any/^*
The Earl then took his wife and sister to the
water-gate, and kissing Katherine, he bade her
farewell for a short time; and putting them
into a boat, he watched them glide down the
river to Whitehall, where they regained the
palace and mingled with the company as if
nothing had happened, while the Earl remained
in his lonely house by the river in Cannon
Row.

Such was the marriage of Edward Seymour,
Earl of Hertford, son of the Protector Somerset,
and Katherine, sister of Lady Jane Grey — a story
that might well pass for a fiction, a romance of
the historian, did not the records remain of every
fact above related, as solemnly sworn to be-
fore the High Court of Conmiission of Queen
Elizabeth.

Yet if ever there was a marriage, in the
noblest and best sense of the word, it was
surely this. Among the lowliest peasants or the
serenest philosophers, we may equally seek in
vain for a more perfect example of a love, that
fully admitting and honouring the moral and
religious law, rated at their due insignificance
* Harl. MSS. 249.

1561.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 181

every other circumstance which could meddle
-with the all-paramount claims of mutual afTec-
tion. The noise and parade, that on ever so
small a scale are considered a necessity, and
which too often cheat the dues of love to
feed the appetite of vanity, were so ignored by a
princess and an earl, that they did not even
know what dress they were married in, and the
very error they committed in the absence of
witnesses, while no virtue in itself, yet bears
witness to the virtue of mutual trust and dis-
interestedness.

If Katherine had been guilty of any of the
ambitious designs imputed to her, she would
never have married Hertford. People who use
marriage only as a stepping-stone in political
ambition, are not deterred by any amount of
imbecility or uncongeniality in the object pro-
posed. The same person, viz.. Sir Thomas
Chaloner, the English ambassador to the Nether-
lands, who reports that ^^it was thought she
(Katherine) could be enticed away, if some trusty
body spoke with her,^^ says in the same letter
that the council of King Philip " thought how
he might both geg the French King, and also
brave a title to the Crown of England by
the conveying out of the realm the Lady
Katherine, who is supposed ' to be the next heir

182 Life and Letters of [1561.

to the realm^ and marry her to the Prince his
son/'*

The extravagances of Don Carlos would have
been no barrier in the eyes of an ambitious
woman, who, by a union with him, would not
only crown herself with the proudest diadem on
earth, which Spain could certainly boast in those
-days of long- departed glory, but would be able
to put the weight of Spain in the balance for her
<;laim to the far inferior sceptre of England after
the death of Elizabeth. Yet we find no evidence
• of her intriguing for this or any other foreign
marriage, or taking any st«p that could promote
her ambition in any way. She remained a Pro-
testant, true to the traditions of the house of
Suffolk j and as to the assertion that intelligence
received by Cecil caused her to be '^ too closely
watched for the future to permit her evasion,''t
not ["one word or action has yet been cited to
show that she intended or wished an evasion or
escape. That other parties formed plots with the
intention of using her as tool for their own ends,
is no proof that she would have consented to be
the tool, and how she was regarded by Sir
Thomas Chaloner may be seen from another
jassage in the letter above quoted : — ^^ The

* The Anstrian Archduke was also spoken of as fit consort,
t Fronde's " History of England," viii.

1561.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 188

■writer does not know whether the Lady Kathe-
rine or any of the parties before rehearsed are
privy to these practises, or whether they are
only thought meetest by some on this side/^*

During the time of these supposed plots^
Katherine, as we have seen, was secretly be-
trothed to Hertford, and her faith to him during
the whole of her life is too strong a fact to be
altered by the tattle of a Spaniard, or even the
reports (pretending to be nothing else) picked up
in a foreign country by an English ambassador*

Nor can the sincerity of Hertford's devo-'
tion be attainted. The old Mendship of the
Queen for his father had been extended to
him, and one of the first acts of Elizabeth on
coming to the throne had been to restore
him to most of the lost honours of Somer-
set. By marrying a royal princess, and a
hated, however innocent, rival of Elizabeth, he
knew perfectly well that he should forfeit the
Queen's favour, for the hopes that had inspired
him at the beginning of her reign had long
vanished as he witnessed the treatment which
Katherine received at Court. That he had no
ambitious designs in his marriage is proved by
the fact of his want of caution in procuring
witnesses and a duly certificated and produci-
* See Appendix 11. c.

184 Life and Letters of [15^ i-

ble priest. If he had thought of the possible
future queen, and not of the woman, the first
things he would have secured would have been
the unchallengeable validity of the marriage, and
the claims of any children he might have to the
English crown under the will of Henry VIII. —
claims which, as Elizabeth had already declared
her intention of never marrying, were of the
highest importance to his worldly advantage.

But, as we have seen, neither party thought
of these things. With the inexperience and
• iaith of youth, they were unprepared for dis-
belief and sneers at what they both solemnly
swore to be true, and maintained to the end
of their lives ; and though they anticipated the
Queen's anger should their marriage be dis-
covered, they could not foresee the whole of the
^calamities that awaited them.

The first of these calamities was the death of
the only witness of the marriage, th^ devoted
Jane. By some rapid illness, the cause of which
is not mentioned, she was carried off in the
nineteenth year of her age, to the bitter grief
of Katherine and Hertford. As one of the
maids of honour, and a favourite of the Queen,
she was ordered a splendid funeral. Her body
was brought from the Queen's Almonry to West-
minster Abbey, followed by sixty mourners and

1561.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 185

two Inmdred of the ladies and gentlemen of the
Court, including members of the Privy Council.
A large banner of arms was borne, the Clarencieux
herald attending, and the Bishop of Peterborough,
preached a funeral sermon, in which he warmly
eulogized the virtues of Jane. She was buried
in the same chapel with the Duchess Prances,
the mother of her friend Katherine.

The spectator who wanders among the neg-
lected and decaying tombs of Westminster Abbey,
may — ^if allowed to remain long enough by the
greedy vergers, in whose hands, and for whose
pecuniary profit, rest the old historic tombs
of our illustrious dead — read the following
inscription : —

The Noble Lady JANE SEYMOVR, davghter to the
renowned Prince Edward, Dvke of Somerset, Earle of Hert-
forde, Viscovute Beavchampe, and Baron Seymovr ; and to
the right noble Lady Anne, Dachesse of Somerset, his wyfe ;
departed this lyfe in her virgin itie at y* age of xix yeares
the XIX daie of Marclie a** m.ccccclx. in the seconde yeare
of the moste happie raigne of Qveene Elizabeth, and was
honorablie bvryod in the floore of this Chappell. To whose
memorie, Edward Earle of Hertforde and Baron Beavtxhampe,
her deare brother, bathe cavsed this monvment to be made.

Camden says that the following verses were
also at one time inscribed on her monument : —

Ingenio prsestans & vnltu Jana decoro,
Nobilis atte fuit vocis, <& arte manus,
Hanb Venus & Pallas certant utra debet habere,
Yult Yenus esse soam, Pallas esse soam ;

186 Life and Letters of [1561-

Mors fera Virginia figens in itectore telum,
Neutrius (inquit) erit, sed mihi prseda iacet.
Corpore Jana iacet telliirem terra subibit,
Sed pins in ccsli spiritus arce sedet.

Which have been thus translated : —

On the Death of Lady Jane, hy Dr. Haddon,
For genius famed, for beauty loved,
Jane bade the world admire ;
Her voice harmonious notes improved,
Her hand the tuneful lyre.
Venus and Pallas claimed this maid,
Each as her right alone,
But Death superior power displayed.
And seized her as his own.
Her virgin dust this mournful Tomb
In kindred earth contains ;
Her soul, which Pate can ne'er consume,
In endless glory reigns.

The necessity of keeping their marriage secret
had, of course, placed the Earl and Katherine
in a false position. Their interviews were as
much stolen and attended with more danger than
in the days of their courtship, and were managed
by Lady Jane, or a servant of Katherine named
Leigh, who, of her own accord, ^^when she saw
my Lord and Lady whisper together, would with-
draw herself out of sight and leave them alone/'
Before the death of Jane, the faithful servant
had left her mistress, and, by the death of her
friend, Katherine and Hertford were left without
any messenger whom they could trust. The
Earl was not his own master, although of age.

1561.] Lady, Arabella Stuart 187

His mother still claimed his obedience, and,
ignorant of his secret, was irritated that he
would not settle himself to marry. The Queen,
who sometimes forced her advice on the yonng
men of her Court in a practical manner that they
could not dispute, saw that he W3,s unsettled and
strange in his ways, and decided that to travel
abroad would be good for him. As this was no
secret, it soon came to Katherine^s ears, but the
Earl, unwilling to grieve her, denied it, " as he
would in no wise be acknowen unto her of it,
saying that she might be sure he should get noe
leave though he were so minded.^^

The following curious letter from his mother,
the Duchess Anne, shows his position in the eyes
of others at this critical period, and when we
remember that it is written in the Duchess's own
hand, on the very day of the death of her
daughter Jane, we can still comprehend why the
Earl and Katherine kept their secret, and how,
notwithstanding the '^motherly love'' of the
Duchess, she was no woman on whose bosom
the young or the erring would repose their griefs
and perplexities : —

Anne^ Duchess of Somerset ^ to Sir William CedL*
" Good Mr. Secretary, — First I beseech you
* State Papers, Eliz., Dom., xvi. fol. 52, MS.

188 Life and Letters of \}S^^-

do my most bounden duty of thanks to the
queen^s highness for this gracious favour to have
any respect to my liking of my son^s journey.
And next, I pray you say that I like this journey \

so far forth as it best liketh her highness ; thirdly,
as you Mr. Secretary think good to persuade I

the going or tarrying, even so shall I be best
content. Motherly love wisheth him here at
home matched in some noble house to the
Queen's Majesty's liking and his own contenta-
tion, serving his country to his friends' content.
Again his vain life, hitherto tending rather to the
contrary, bids me prove if experience of travel
and sight of foreign countries will shake oflF
these youthful errors. Then forth comes so
many dangers to my head, together with the
remembrance of his small body to bear travel and
sickness, that I know not what to say. And
yet to continue here the life he hath led should
prove too much to my discomfort. I call to i

mind many whose travel hath Increased their |

estimation; others again have consumed their
substance, spent their time and lost credit. Thus
do I see for the most part as travel is a gain to
the better disposed, even so proves it fruitless to
the contrary sort. Sir, though I as a mother do
wish the best to my child, yet do I yield and j

consent to that which Mr. Secretary thinks meet I

1 56 1 .] Lady Arabella Stuart 189

for my son to follow. I pray you take this one
thing of me among my motherly passions, that as
the queen^s highnesses pleasure is to stay or let
him go, even so am I best content. If it be
indifferent to her Majesty, then, good master
Secretary, make answer on my behalf as to your
wisdom shall seem good. I know you wish his
good, and know what is better for him than
either I or himself. And I am so sorry that his
demeanour is such towards you as that he drives
you to strain curtly to say your flat mind which
is the better to stay or go. I had rather he
willed to have dealt that your letter to me might
have been lengthened with a fl^t persuasion of
either going or tarrying. Good Mr. Secretary,
I have lost one that had been abroad and was
coming homeward. And for that this stands
now upon making and marring, bear with me,
though I be the more earnest to crave your
faithfiil friendly counsel towards him. Good Mr.
Secretary, deal not curtly with him, though he be
somewhat wilful and unruly, yet spare not to
overrule him. And again, if in meaning the
best, his stay should be by any occasion of mine,
and afterward danger should ensue thereby, then
shoidd my grief be doubled. Thus remain I
perplexed at my wit^s end what to write or what
to say. Saving that I end as I began, to do that

190 Life and Letters of [1561-

which may best satisfy the queen^s majesty, and
then do give Mr. Secretary full commission to
answer what please him on my behalf. And
snre I am there cannot but good come of it
whether it be in going or tarrying. If the con-
trary should happen at all, resting in Grod^s hands,
yet doubt I not, but I interpret Mr. Secretary's
doing to proceed of a most faithful and earnest
friend. And so resting in prayer for the Queen's
Majesty, I leave you to God, who send you and
my Lady Cecil the comfort your own hearts can
best desire, wishing it lay in me to show some
part of will and meaning I have to requite the
trouble and care ye have had and must have
with me and mine.

'* Yours assured to my power ever,

^'Anne Somerset.''

The Queen decided on the departure of Hert-
ford j and knowing how soon he should have to
brave her displeasure, he perhaps thought to
soften it by showing prompt obedience now.
Only by revealing the truth could he defer his
departure ; and he possibly hoped, as mortals do
hope, without reason, for some lucky accident
between the present and the inevitable future
moment. Katherine by chance saw the passport
signed for his journey to Paris; but, though

156 1 . ] Lady Arabella Stuart. 191

overwhelmed witli grief, they both esteemed it
best to keep the secret as long as possible.* The
Earl then drew a deed on parchment^ settling
1000/. a year on Katherine in case of his deaths
and then departed ; and Katherine was left alone
to bear the swiftly^approaching revelation.

Soon the cruel whispers, and scornful glances,
and contemptuous behaviour of the Court informed
the poor young Countess that her reputation was
at stake, and the fatal hour was come.

The first person to whom she turned in her
distress was Bess of Hardwick, then a Court lady,
high in favour with the Queen, as Lady Saintlow.f
Bess well knew the danger of such confidence.
She burst into tears, not of sympathy but fear,
declaring to the trembling Katherine her sorrow
that she had married without the consent or
knowledge of the Queen or any other of her
Mends, and gave her no hope. Katherine,
frantic with terror, though it was late at night,
next hurried to the apartments of Lord Robert
Dudley, and besought his intercession. It is not
likely that he denied it, as he was not cruel to
any whose requests did not interfere with himself.

* Personal Answers of Lady Katherine Hertford, Harl.
MSS. 249.

t Sir William Saintlow having been imprisoned by Queen
Mary at the conspiracy of Wyatt, he was, like the rest of that
party, in high favour with Queen Elizabeth.

192 Life and Letters of [1561.

But Dudley himself could have done nothing to
soften the rage of the Queen, whose worst quali-
ties came out on the discovery of a stolen,
marriage. Not the most ardent admirer of her
splendid qualities, her undaunted courage, her
pride in the renown of her country, the dignity
with which she upheld her great name in the eyes
of foreign nations, and the power with which
she sacrificed her private feelings to lift England
high above the rank in which she found it, can
regard the conduct of Queen Elizabeth to Kathe-
rine Hertford with any other feeling than that of
shame and indignation.

In a transport of fury she hurried Katherine
to the Tower, that must have frowned in ten-
fold horror upon the wretched prisoner, who., in
a state of health demanding the utmost tender-
ness and gentleness, was compelled to pass
through the Traitors^ Gate and by the very spot
where her sister had been condemned to a bloody
death. Bess, too, though certainly quite innocent,
was included in the Queen^s wrath, and, on
suspicion of being an accomplice, was compelled
to take up her residence for a time in the same
gloomy abode. The following warrant will re-
call the story of Lady Margaret Douglas and
Lord Thomas Howard, and has quite an here-
ditary sound in it : —

15^0.] Lady Arabella Stuart 193

From the Quene^s Majestic to Mr. Warner, Liett^
tenant of the Tower ^ 17th August, 1560.*

" Trusty and wellbeloved^ we grete you well.
Our pleasure is, that ye shall, as by our Com-
mandment, examyn the Lady Caiharyne very
streightly, how many hath bene pryvee to the
Love betwixt the Erie of Hertford and hir from
the begynning ; and lett hir eertenly understand
that she shall have no Manner of Favor, except
she will shew the truth, not only what Ladyes
or Gentillwomen of this Court wer therto privee,
but also what Lords and Gentillmen: For it
doth now appere that sondry Personagees have
delt herein; and when it shall appeare more
manifestly, it shall increase our Indignation
ageynst hir, if she will forbeare to utter.

" We ernestly requyre you to bestow your
Diligence in this. Ye also shall send to Alder-
man Lodg secretly for Sentlow, and shall put hir
in aw of divers Matters confessed by the Lady
Catharyn ; and so also deale with hir, that she
may confess to you all hir Knowledg in the
same Mattiers. It is certayne that there hath
bene great Practisees and Purposees ; and sence
the Death of the Lady Jane, she hath been most
privee. And as ye shall see Occasion so ye may

* Hayues^ Burghley Papera, p. 369.
VOL. I. O

194 Life and Letters of [1560.

keep Sentlow two or tliree nights more ore less,
and let hir be retomed to Lodgee's or kept still
mth you, as ye shall tlink mete. We have
signed a Licence for your absence, but we would
that ye should forbeare for a fortnight, and not
to depart untill also our Pleasure be furder
signified/^

The result of this order is best given in the
words of Sir Edward Warner himself, and to his
letter may be appended one written on the same
day by the Duchess Anne, whose true character
as a mother now fully appears : —

Sir Edward Warner to the Queen Elizabeth.

" Pleaseth it your most excellent Majesty.
Upon the Receipt of your letters, I have accord-
ing to the tenor theifeof travailed both with the
Lady Katherine and mistress Saintlow, using all
the ways and means I could devise to bolt out
and bring to light the practises and secret deal-
ing which hath been used in the love between
the earl of Hertford and the said lady Katherine.
But they do both most earnestly allege and avow
that they have in aU things concerning the same
justly and truly confessed to such as it pleased

* State Papers, Eliz., Dom., xix., fol. 32, MS.

1561.] Lady Arabella Stuart 195

your highness to send unto them before this, and
there is no question that I have asked of the
Lady Katherine but she sayeth the same hath been
demanded of her before, and she hath answered
even according to the very truth. Dii/«rs of
which answers hath to me seemed so unlikely
that I have greatly charged her therewith, and
by all ways and means I could, persuaded her
to be more plaine with your highness. Neverthe-
less she standeth fast that all that she hath said
is true, and also that she hath said all the truth,
and seeing there is no more to be gotten of her,
I have taken that as it is and put it in writing
in as good order and so I could bear it which
spending much time with her the rather to see
if anything would fall out unadvisedly most
humbly beseeching your majesty to take my
doing herein in good part and likewise I crave
your pardon that I trouble you with scribbling
a fyt, but I can do it no better myself and I
was loth to trust any other person with me-
herein. For, also, much as it pleased your
majesty to write unto me that you had signed a.
license for me to be absent for a season, I am
so bold to request the possession thereof and
your favour to enjoy also the benefit thereof.
So praying the Holy Ghost to prosper all your
godly purposes and give you long life to reign.

o 2

196 Life and Letters of [1561.

over us, from your tower of London the 22nd of
August, 1561.

^^ Your most humble servant and
^^ Obedient subject,
• ^^ Edward Warner/^

Anne, Duchess of Somerset, to Sir William CeciL^

^^ Good Master Secretary, — Hearing a great
bruit that my lady Katherine Gray is in the tower,
and also that she should say she is married
already to my son, I could not choose but
trouble you with my cares and sorrows thereof.
And although I might, upon my son^s earnest
and often protesting unto me the contrary, desire
you to be an humble suitor on my behalf, her
tales might not be - credited before my son did
answer, yet instead thereof my first and chief
• suit is that the queen^s majesty will think and
judge of me in this matter according to my
desert and meaning. And if my son have
so much forgotten her highness calling him
to honour, and so much overshot his bounden
duty, and so far abused her Majesty's benignity,
yet never was his mother privy or consent-
ing thereunto. I will not fill my letter
how much I have schooled and persuaded

» State Papers, Eliz., Dom., xk., fol. 31, MS.

1561.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 197

him to the contrary, nor yet will desire that
youth and fear may help excuse or lessen his
fault. But only that her highness will have
that opinion of me as of one that neither for
child nor friend shall willingly neglect the duty of
a faithful subject. And to conserve my credit
with her Majesty, good Master Secretary, stand
now my friend, that the wildness of mine unruly
child do not minish her Majesty's favour to-
wards me. And thus so perplexed with this
discomfortable rumour, I end, not knowing how
to proceed nor what to do therein. And there-
fore, good Master Secretary, let me understand
some comfort of my grief from the Queen's
Majesty and some counsel from yourself. And
so do leave you to God.

^^ Your assured friend to my power,

^^Anne Somerset.^'

Meanwhile, an order was despatched to Paris
to the Earl, commanding his instant return.
He made not the slightest attempt to escape or
shirk his share of the consequences, but at once
recroBsed the Channel, and, hastening to the
Court, boldly declared that aU that Katherine
had confessed was true, and that he was her
husband. This announcement was followed by
his immediate incarceration in the Tower, in a

198 lAfe and Letters of [1561.

separate prison from his unfortunate wife ; and^
two days afterwards (Sept.7tli),he was formally ex-
amined by a committee appointed by the Queen,
and on the 12th of September Lady Katherine
was examined in like manner. Though examined
apart, the answers of the prisoners agreed.
*They separately related the above circun^stances
of their marriage, which they solemnly swore to
be true. Since their separation, they had cor-
responded whenever an opportunity occurred of
sending a letter, and though they had not placed
each, other's names in the superscription for fear
'of discovery, they had addressed the letters :
Hertford, '' To my Wife,'' and Katherine,
^^To my Husband,'' or '^To my loving Hus-
"band."

The examination was scarcely over when, on
the 21st of September, Lady Katherine gave
birth to a son in the Tower. He was baptized
by the name of Edward, as the son of the Earl,
and is known as the Lord Beauchamp, which
was the title given to the eldest son of the house
of Hertford.

This new claimant to the rights of his
house rendered the question still more serious,
and a new examination was instituted, the
following warrant being sent to Sir Edward
Warner : —

156a.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 199

To Sir Edward Warner , Knight y Lieutenant of the
Tower, By the Quene.^

" Trustie and welbeloved, we grete you well.
When the most reverend Father in God the
Archbishop of Canterburye, with others, have
Comission to examyn, inquire, and judge of the
infamose Conversacion and pretended Manage
betwixt the Ladye Katheryn Grey and the Erie
of Hertford: Our Pleasure is that, when the
said Archbishop, with other the Commissioners,
shall send to have either of the Parties to appere
before them in that Cause, ye shall your self
lede either of them by Water as Prisoners in
your custodie to Lambeth: And when they
have answered in Place of Judgment to remajTi
under your custodie as Prisoners, and to returne
them in lyke manner to their Places, And if
the Commissioners shall at any Tyme send or
come to examyn them, ye shall permit them so
to do j for our Will is to have Justice. Geven
under our Signett at our Pallaice of Westminster
the 10th Daye of Februarye, the fourth Yere of
our Reigne/'

The Queen seems to have altered her mind,
for, instead of the examinations taking place at

* Hajnes, Burghley Papers, p. 378.

200 Life and Letters of [15^2.

Lambethj they were all conducted in the Tower,
before Grindal, Bishop of London, and several
commissioners. The result of the evidence was
substantially the same, but now came the con-
sequences of the strange ignorance of the pri-
soners of the importance of some minor matters.
The only witness to the marriage, the Lady Jane,
was dead, and the clergyman who married them
could not be found.

The commissioners, therefore, declared that
there had been no marriage, and that con-
sequently the son was illegitimate. Still, even
in this case, the prisoners had broken no law,
but, nevertheless, they were both detained in
the Tower.

Low murmurs at this act of injustice were
heard among the people, who did not scruple to
express their disgust at the conduct of Arch-
bishop Parker, who was believed to be the chief
agent in their condemnation. The Earl and
Countess refused to acknowledge the decision
that placed a legal separation between them, and
rendered illegitimate their only son, the heir of
two illustrious houses, and a lineal descendant
of King Henry VII.

Everywhere, except among the royal syco-
phants, they were spoken of as husband and
wife, and Katherine was called ^^ My Lady

^5^3*] Lady Arabella Stuart. 201

Hertford/^ Their gaolers, too, were evidently
among their sympathizers, and neglected that
part of the Qneen^s commandment which ordered
them to be kept in separate prisons.

On the 10th of February, 1563, a second son
was born, and baptized by the name of Thomas,
as the legitimate son of the Earl and Kathe-
rine.

The fiiry of the Queen was redoubled, and
she resolved that those whom God had joined,
the Star Chamber should put asunder. The
Earl was cited before that scandalous tribunal
and fined fifteen thousand pounds, and both he
and Lady Katherine were condemned to remain
in prison during the Queen^s pleasure.

Katherine never saw her husband again. The
Queen, with a mockery of kindness, had her
prison fitted up in a manner befitting a princess
of the blood royal, and a profusion of fine attire
was stored in her wardrobe.* Monkeys and
dogs were allowed her for ammement — ^in fact,
any amount of worthless finery and toys, while,
perhaps, never existed a woman in whose eyes
all these things had less value.

The Earl was placed in another part of the
Tower, and from henceforth the dread of the
Queen overruled any pitiful inclinations on the
* See Appendix II. c.

202 Life and Letters of \}b^i*

part of the gaolers to allow him to yisit liis wife^
and, as he pathetically expressed it, to ^' comfort
her in her sadness/'

A few months after the last sentence, the
plague broke out, and, like aU epidemics, was
especially fatal in the neighbourhood of the
always unhealthy State prison. The friends of
the prisoners interceded, and Elizabeth, who was
always keenly alive to the popular voice, knew
well the light in which her proceedings were
regarded. She dared not add to the severity
already shown, by leaving her victims to die of
the plague, and issued orders for their temporary
removal — Katherine, to the charge of her uncle.
Sir John Grey, one of the favourites of Elizabeth,
as being imprisoned at the time of the Wyatt
conspiracy, and the Earl to the house of his
mother.*

The accompanying warrant from the Lords of
the Council bears witness to the kindly spirit
with which the young couple were regarded by
the nation at large, and which was in all pro-
bability the cause of the indulgence shown in the
treatment of the prisoners. Their separation
was their real punishment, as Elizabeth well
knew ; and having secured this, she was willing
to hide her cruelty with minor ameliorations.
* Letter of Cecil to Sir Thomas Smith.

^S^S'"] Lady Arabella Stuart. 203

The Lords of the Council to the Lord John
Grey.^

*' After our harty Commendations to your
good Lordships. Although it may seme strange
unto you that without any former Knowledg
gyven you, the Lady Catham your Lordships
Nepee, is appoynted to be removed out of the
Tower to your Hous ; yet we dout not but ye
will thynk the Cause reasonable, when ye shaU
understand it to be thus. The Queue's Majesty
having Consideration that the Towre of London
is envyroned with infection of the Plage, for the
Danger that might ensue to your Nece ther,
hath bene pleased of hir Compassion to grant
that she shuld be removed from thence, as
uppon much humble Suyte hir Majesty hath
granted the like to the Erie of Hertford; and
meaning not that she shuld be at any other
Liberty, but to be free from that Place of
Danger, thought best, in respect your Lordship
is a Nobleman, and of grave Consideration to
regard any Trust committed to you by hir
Majesty, to committ the Custody of the said
Lady to you hir onely Uncle and next Coosyn.
And thus hir Majesty willed us to shew you the
Occasion of her sending to you, and hath com-

* Haynes, Burghley Papers, p. 404.

204 Life and Letters of [JS^S*

manded us also to wryte furder unto your Lord-
ship, that hir Pleasure is, the said Lady shall re-
mayn with you and your Wiffe, as in Custody, not
to depart firom you untill hir Majesty^s Pleasure
shall be furder knowen, nether to have any Con-
ference with any Person being not of your Houshold,
without Knowledg of your Lord or your WiflPe.
Which hir Majesty meaneth she shuld under-
stand of your Lordship, and observe, as some
part of hir Punishment ; and therin hir Majesty
meaneth herin to trye hir Disposition how she will
obey that which she shall have in Commandment.
And suerly of our owne Parts, for that we wish
she should not long lack hir Majest/s Favor, but
recover it by all good Meanes, we hartely pray
your Lordship to have regard, that she use hir
self there in your Houss with no other Demeanor
than as though she were in the Towre, untill she
may atteyne more Favor of hir Majesty. For
we must lett you know that which is trew, hir
Majesty hath at this present ment no more by
this Liberty, but that she be out of the
Towre from Danger of the Plage. And so
we pray your Lordship lett hir playnly under-
stand.''

This is followed by the Queen's warrant for
their removal : —

'5^3-] Lady Arabella Stuart. 205

The Queen to the Lieutenant of the Tower, "^

^^ Trusty and wellbeloved : We greet you well.
"Wheras we be informed that the places near
that our tower are much vilified with the plague,
and yourself not without great fear that the
same may enter into our tower, we are contented
the Lady Catharyne and the Earl of Hertford,
for the time of this danger of the plague, shall
be in some other several convenient places out
of the tower. Wherefore we will that the Lady
Catharyne shall be removed to the house of the
Lord John Grey in Essex, there to remain with
him and his wife during our pleasure. And the
Earl of Hertford to be removed to his mother^s
house in Middlesex, there also to remain during
our pleasure. And for their behaviour, our
pleasure is that ye shall command them in our
name, under pain of our indignation and such
fine as we shall please to pass, that neither of
them depart from the said places otherwise than
to take the air near to the same, and not without
our leave neither attempt to have any converse
together.^^

* State Papers, Eliz., Dora., xxiv., fol. 62, MS.

206 Life and Letters of [1563.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE STORT OF KATHERINE GREY.

fConiinued.J

IRGO, the residence of Lord John Grey,
was situated in the Manor of Haver-
ing at Bower, in Essex, and had once
been a royal residence. There, on the 9th of
July, 1437, had died Joan the widow of Henry
IV., and on the 24th of April, 1559, Queen
Elizabeth had granted it to her devoted fol-
lower Lord John Grey, brother of the Duke of
Suffolk*

Though Lord John Grey declared Katherine
deserving of her punishment, he still wrote letters
to Cecil begging him to intercede with the
Queen, and Katherine herself poured forth
piteous prayers that she might be allowed to see
her ^' dear Lord and Husband/^ for neither Hert-
ford nor Katherine ever admitted the shadow of a
doubt as to their true marriage, and she invari-

* Letter of Lord John Grey. EUis, Second Series, ii.

1563.] Lady Arabella Stuart 207

ably signed herself " Katherine Hertford/* To
write directly to the Queen was hopeless ; the sup-
pliants thereforetookthe cautious planof appealing
to Cecil, who was to ask Lord Robert Dudley to
plead with the Queen. But Elizabeth was deaf to
her prayers, and the sickness of hope deferred, and
the agony of her separation from Hertford, soon
began to tell on the health of Lady Katherine.
She lost all appetite for food, and sat brooding
over her miseries, incapable of consolation.
Sometimes her uncle would say to her, with
the honest idea of a kind-hearted but not sensi-
tive soul, ^' Good madame, eate somewhat to
compfort yourself.** At his kindly voice she
would burst into tears, and retire to her chamber ;
and when Sir John, unable to comprehend such
keen sorrow in one who had all the material com-
forts of life around her, asked her ''what was
the cause of her using herself in such manner ?**
she would answer, " Alas, uncle, what is life to
me ? But for my lord and my children, I would to
God I were buried P*

Among many letters from her uncle to Cecil,
beseeching him to do his best to " ease her of
this woefiil greiffe,** the following may be selected
as giving a heartrending picture of distracted
sorrow : —

208 Life and Letters of [i5<S3-

Lord John Grey to Sir William Cecil.*
'^ The augmenting of my niece^s grief in the
want of the Queen's Majesty's favour, enforceth
me (besides my duty in nature) every way to
declare and recommend unto you her miserable
and most woefiil state ; this three or four days she
hath for the most part kept her bed, but alto-
gether her chamber, in such wise as I thought
once I should have been driven to have sent for
some of the Queen's Physicians, and I never
came to her but I found her either weeping or else
saw by her face she had wept. Wherefore Cousin
CecU, for the mutual love which ought to be
betwixt Christian men, and for the love where-
with God hath loved us^ being his, procure by
some way or means, the Queen's Majesties
farther favour towards her; for assuredly she
never went to bed all this time of her sickness,
but they that watched with her much doubted
how to find her in the morning, for she is
fraughted with phlegm by reason of thought,
weeping and sitting still, that many times she is
like to be overcome therewith : so as if she had
not painfalt women about her, I tell you truly.
Cousin Cecil, I could not sleep in quiet. Thus
with my hearty commendations to you and my

* Ellis's Letters, Second Series, ii. p. 282.
t Careful.

^5^3'^ Lady Arabella Stuart. 209

good lady my cousin, I wish you the same quiet
of mind as to myself. — From my house at Pirgo,
the 12th of December, 1563.
''By your loving Cousin

'' And assured friend to his power,
*' John Grey.

" To my very loving Cousin, Sir William Cecil,
Knight, Chief Secretary to the Queen's
Majesty."

At the same time, Hertford repeatedly ad-
dressed Lord Robert to move the Queen to
compassion, accompanying his letters with pre-
sents, which her Majesty had the meanness to
accept, while she turned a deaf ear to his suit.
The accompanying letters will serve as a specimen
of the correspondence of Hertford and Dudley,
kindly received at first by Dudley, but of which
he afterwards grew rather tired, especially as the
cause seemed to become hopeless : —

The Earl of Hertford to Lord Robert Dudley.*
" My good Lord, — Among divers my bonds, I
think myself not a little bound unto your Lord-
ship for the friendly welcoming and honorable
using my lady my mother, since her now being
at the Court, as also your well-tried and godly
noble ftirthering her long and troublesome suit

* State Papers, Eliz., Pom., xxxiii. fol. 27, MS.
VOL. I. P

210 Life and Letters of [1564,

for us to our most gracious Queen. Wherein,
as always, so now I still crave your especial and
most humble means of desire to her Majesty we
may be unburdened of her Highness^ intolerable
displeasure, the great weight whereof hath suflS-
ciently taught us never again to offend so
merdftd a Princess. And so I beseech you, my
good Lord, now on our behalf, who pray for no
earthly thing so much as the comfort of her too
long- wanted favour. My trust is God will bless
your Lordship^s travails with the finiit thereof,
and by your means (wherein next him we only
depend) turn the sorrowful mourning of us, her
Majesty's poor captives, into a contentive com-
fort. For which I rest in continual prayer.
And so take my leave, beseeching Almighty God
long to preserve her and make me so happy as to
enjoy the company of so dear a Lord and friend
as I have and do find of your Lordship.

''From Hanworth, the 18th of March, 1683.
'' Your Lordship's most assured friend,
to command,

'' Hertford.

'' Sent by Thugans/'

Lord Robert Dudley to the Earl of Hertford.^
"My Lord, — ^According to your request, I

* State Papers, Eliz., Bom., xxxiii. fol. 28, MS.

1564.] Lady A rabella Stuart. 211

moved the Queen^s Majesty, at my coming to the
Court, for your further liberty. I declared withal
xinto her highness the hap I had to meet with
you. And in what humble sort your Lordship
did both to acknowledge that which was past,
and how desirous you were to have any the least
occasion in this world to shew your obedient and
willing heart in doing such service toward her
Majesty as might make some satisfaction for the
displeasure you had incurred, which was so
heavy and intolerable to you, as without hope
of recovery of her favour again, you desired not
to live. My declaration on your Lordship's
behalf was not misliked, and having occasion to
speak of her again when Mr. Secretary was there
by Sunday night, who most friendly did further
your suit. And when I also prest her somewhat
for a comfortable answer for you, I found yet
that she wanted stay in granting it, I would have
been glad to have none for your Lordship.
My Lady, your mother, likewise hath presented
for her part the matter so earnestly and diligently
as was possible, but as yet the time has not
come. Your Lordship can consider princes must
be obeyed and their wills fulfilled ; if God have
not yet stirred her heart hereat, nothing will
work till he be pleased, as much as we may do
with speech and humble heart hath been, I assure

p 2

212 Life and Letters of [1564.

your Lordship, for you. Love liim and fear Tn'm
and pray earnestly to liim, for lie must be your
chief work, and as oft as occasion and time shall
serve, I shall not omit anything that may further
your help to obtain the favour and comfort you
seek. In the meantime, I will wish your Lord-
ship patience, and not leave as opportunity shall
yield to remember her Majesty of your heavy
and grievous date. Thus I commend your
Lordship to God^s grace.

^^ In haste, this morning, 22nd March.
" Your Lordship^s very friend,

*^R. Dudley.^'

The Earl of Hertford to Lard Robert Dudley.^

" My good Lord, — ^Like as I cannot too often
acknowledge the great bonds I owe your Lord-
ship, for divers your Lordship^s favours and
friendships shewed, so can I not, having this
good opportunity of writing by Mr. Thugans,
let him pass without desire of carrying these few
Lines unto your Lordship. Before whom I am
bold to say the same and continued intolerable
grief for our most gracious Queen^s displeasure, I
did at the last my most happy seeing and speaking
with your Lordship. May it therefore now
please you to reiterate the same unto so merciful^
. * St:\te Papers, Eliz., Dom., xxxiii. foL 37, MS.

1564.] Lady Arabella Stuart 213

pitifiil a nature as her highnesses to all sorts is
well known, and if most grievous offenders
tasted it, we by so favorable a means as your
Lordship receiving the comfort of her Majesty^s
ended displeasure, may for ever, as we are most
bounden, acknowledge the same toward her high-
ness and your Lordship, whom I beseecn to make
my most loving and hearty commendations to
my Lord your brother, praying Almighty God
to prosper her Majesty with continual felicity,
and to send you both your hearths desire. — From
Hanworth the 29th March.

"Your Lordship's bounden friend and servant,

"E. Hertford.

^^ I am bold to beseech your Lordship to do
me the honour to present on my behalf this poor
token of gloves, I told your Lordship I thought
myseK most happy, I might make for her
Majesty, desiring likewise (if it may please you
to do me so much favour) to send me word
of her liking or finding fault with the same, that
I may amend it in the next.''

Lm^d Robert Dudley to the Earl of Hertford.*

^^My Lord, — I have delivered your handy-
work my own self where you required me. There

* State Papers, Eliz., Dom., xxxiii. fol. 37, MS.

214 Life and Letters of [1564.

is no fault to be found with these, for they be
perfect in their kind. Yet if in the next you
make the same a Kttle stronger, as I have
shewed to Thugans, I think it be all the lack
that may be supplied to the want in these. For
your Lordship^s greater matter, I will not fail
to use ttife benefit of this good time, neither
shall you lack whatsoever I may say for the
furtherment thereof. In the mean time, let the
clemency of her Majesty, shewed to many, work
the good hope in you that God will frame her
favorable mind, knowing your faithful meaning
to be for ever in all respects such as will seek
to offer all dutiful recompense for the recovery
of that is so necessary to be desired, of which,
partly towards both, I said as time would permit
me at my meeting late your Lordship in the
way, and my poor fancy which proceeded of
right good will, and shall so in the desire to do
your Lordship that good I may be able. I do
also bear well away that in yourself of yourself,
which I have not let to declare as I thought to
such as I judge it will not harm you. I cannot
better advise you, my Lord, than to think still
as you said then, and to think it no more now
than you shall ftdly determine to fiilfil hereafter,
when it shall please God to send you that liberty

T554.] Lady Arabella Stuart 215

you desire, and her favour I am sure you trust
for. And no friend you have shall wish you
sooner to enjoy it than myself, and will not for-
bear alway to put you in mind of that I think
meet, plainly as I think. And yet I think as
well of you as your Lordship^s self would I
should.

'^ Thus an end in haste,

" Your Lordship^s very friend,

'' R. Dudley.''

At this period all chance of mollifying the
Queen was destroyed by the injudicious inter-
ference of a well-wisher of Katherine. This was
John Hales, a lawyer, who had been Clerk of
the Hanaper under Henry VIII. and Edward VI.
He had been exiled in the time of Queen Mary,
on account of his religion, and he returned on
the accession of Elizabeth. He was not only a
Protestant, but a zealous Puritan ; and that he
was a staunch supporter of the claims of Lady
Katherine to be considered heiress to the crown,
is one of the strongest proofs of her attachment
to the Protestant religion. During the illness of
Queen Elizabeth in 1562, he had composed a
book on the Succession, in which he had main-
tained the title of Katherine as successor, and

216 Life and Letters of [1564.

vindicated her lawful marriage to the Earl of
Hertford. Not satisfied with his own opinion
alone, he procured that of councillors and law-
yers from abroad, to confirm his arguments,
and books were written on the marriage by
Johannes Oldendorf, LL.D., by Jacobus Orm-
phelius, by three doctors of the Imperial Chamber
of Spires, and five doctors of the University of
Paris.* All his arguments he laid before the
most potent nobles ; and to such discussion did
the affair give rise, that it went by the name of
the Halesian tempest. The Queen became so
alarmed and jealous as even to suspect the well-
beloved and trusty Cecil. John Hales was com-
mitted to the Fleet for his boldness in discussing
the sacred question of the Succession and criti-
cising the judgment on Lady Katherine's mar-
riage, but '^ more specially because he communi-
cated it to sundry persons.^'f Among these
'^ sundry persons^' was the Lord Keeper Sir
Nicholas Bacon, who, for no other offence than
saying that he would present a petition to the
Queen against the judgment on Hertford's mar-
riage, was commanded to absent himself from

* These works are all among the MSS. of the University
of Camhridge.

t Letter of Cecil to Sir Thomas Smith ; £Ilis« Second
Series, ii. p. 285.

i5'54.] Lady Arabella Stuart 217

Court and meddle with nothing but his aflfairs of
Chanc5ery. Lord John Grey, too, came under
the royal fipown ; and such was the state of the
royal mind, that to be a friend of Katherine was
to be a dangerous and obnoxious person.

At this critical period, anxiety and gout car-
ried off Lord John Grey, and his unhappy niece
was temporarily given in charge to Mr. Petre, a
colleague of Cecil, and shortly afterwards, " the
Queen^s displeasure continuing still towards my
Lord Hertford and my Lady Katherine,^^* they
were both transferred to the Tower.

The former Lieutenant, Sir Edward Warner,
was discharged for too great leniency and neg-
lect, and was now replaced by Sir Owen Hopton,
who was strictly charged to relax nothing in
favour of his prisoners.

The miserable condition of her son had at last
subdued the selfish fears of his mother, and in
the fourth year of his captivity we find her
writing thus to Cecil : —

Anney Duchess of Somerset y to Sir William CedLf

''Good Master Secretary, after this long silence,
and for that as yet mine old occasion lets mine
attendance, I have presumed by letter to renew

* Letter of Cecil to Sir Thomas Smith,
t Ellis, Second Series, ii. p. 287.

218 Life and Letters of \}S^S'

my suit for my son to the Queen^s Majesty, and
have likewise written to my Lord of Leicester,
praying you to set in your helping hand to end
this tedious suit, wherein for me to reason how
much her Highness^ displeasure is too long lasting,
or how unmeet it is this young couple should
thus wax old in prison, or how far better it
were for them to be abroad and learn to serve,
avails not, but I leave those and such like
speeches to the friendly setting forth of my good
Lord and you : only my seeking is that as there
is none other cause since her Majesty^s reign
but hath had some favorable order or ende, so
by your earnest conferring and joining with my
good Lord, this young couple may feel some
like of her Majesty^s plentiful mercy, to the pro-
curement whereof, the more earnest my Lord and
you shall show yourselves, the more shall you
sett forth the Queen^s Majesty^s honour, and as
a mother I must needs say the better discharge
your calling and credit. And so resting in
prayer that God would bless your travail to some
comfortable end, I take my leave.

'' Your assured loving friend,

^^Anne Somerset.^'

But another year rolled away, and still the
unhappy captives were pining in their gloomy

1566.] Lady Arabella Stuart 219

prison. The Duchess in vain besieged the most
influential noblemen of the Court, and, hoping
that the solemn period of Lent might soften the
Queen^s heart, she thus wrote to Cecil : —

Anne, Duchess of Somerset, to Sir William CecilJ^

^^ Good Mr. Secretary, — If I have let you
alone all this while, I pray you think it was to
tarry for my Lord of Leicester's assistance, to
whom as I have now written to take some oc-
casion to do good in my son^s cause, so are these
to pray you to provoke him and join with him to
further the same, trusting the occasion of this
holy week and charitable time of forgiveness
earnestly set forth by his Lordship, and will
bring forth some comfortable fruit of relief to
the long-afilicted parties, wherein my Lord and
you cannot go so far, but God^s cause and the
Queen's honour bid you go farther. Thus much
I thought good to write as giving occasion for
my Lord and you to move the Queen's Majesty
to Mercy, and not still to suffer this cause alone
to rest without all favour and forgiveness. I
can no more but once again pray your earnest
dealing herein, and likewise that your humble
duty of thanks for Mr. Mychell^s passport may

• Ellifi, Second Series, ii. p. 287.

220 Life and Letters of \}s(i(i*

be done to her highness^ and so do leave you to
God.

^' Your assured loving friend,

^'Anne Somerset/^

Still vain were all attempts to mitigate the
doom of the prisoners. The vindictive anger of
the Queen even threatened to extend to the
younger brother of Hertford, and drew from the
Earl the following expostulatory letter : —

The Earl of Hertford to Sir William Cecil.*

^^ I weU hoped after so long trouble that now,
upon this occasion of speech for removes, some
grace would have been obtained for us, but find
the effect far otherwise, perceiving not only by
Mr. Spencer that my Princess^ still-continued
heavy displeasure continueth, likewise the ac-
customed punishment both in restraint of
liberty and otherwise, but also more to increase the
sorrow of my case, therefore as I do understand
by my brother Henry Seymour, he beareth some
part of pain for the offence I only committed,
to his great hinderment in a suit he hath to her
Majesty. But, good Mr. Secretary, let it not be
so, but following your constant favour in such
reasonable cause, do you now shew yourself in
♦ State Papers, Eliz., Dom., xl. fol. 13, MS.

1566.] Lady Arabella Stuart 221

his behalf both a friend and a father unto him.
The thing he sueth for will be a good help
toward his better maintenance to serve her
Highness, which chiefly moveth my earnest re-
membrances unto you in furthering of the same.
For seeing it yet pleaseth not her Majesty to
command to use again my himible duty of ready
service, which causeth the one same great grief
that of all other lieth next my heart, over sore
redoubled would be the sorrow thereof, especially
if for »y cause, my brother should be enforced
to leave that place wherein he presently receiveth
so great comfort in showing (as I may say) both
our duties of service to her Highness. And
even so recommending both him and myself to
your godly care and wisdom, I make an end.

" From my Lady Mason^s House in London^
this 24th of June, 1566.

^' Your assured loving friend,

"E. Hertford."

But one of the prisoners was drawing towards
a portal which even the cruel Queen could not
bar against her escape. Lady Katherine was
slowly dying — dying of grief at her separation
from her husband. It was a spectacle

" That might have soothed a tiger's rage,
Or thawed the cold heart of a conqueror."

222 Life and Letters of [1565.

But the only mercy she could obtain was a re-
moval from the Tower to a prison in the private
house of some country gentleman^ and for this
purpose an order was issued to a miserable old
man^ Sir John Wentworth^ to receive her and
her train, and keep close guard over her.

Imagine an old lady and gentleman, whose
chief business, in this life, is to take care of
themselves and guard against all noise, trouble,
and ailments, real or imaginary, suddenly called
upon, in a peremptory style, to take chftrge of
a dangerous State prisoner, with a train of
troublesome servants, and loaded with the re-
sponsibility of any treason or mishap of any
kind that might occur, and we shall sympathize
with as well as smile at the following agonizing
epistle : —

Sir John Wentworth to the Lords of the Council.^

" After my most humble duty to your good
Lordships. Having received a letter from the
Queen her Majesty the 13th of May, willing me
to receive into my house the Lady Katherine
Grey, according to the tenor of her highness'
letter, with other letters directed unto me from
Sir William Cecil, which said letters I have sent

• State Papers, Eliz., Dom., xxxix. fol. 70, MS.

1566.] Lady Arabella Stuart 223

unto your honours to peruse, trusting that the
Queen her Majesty, and you my good Lords of
the Privy Council, will consider how' unmeet a
game I am to receive such a charge, being of
years above three score and 6, and of late much
visited with sickness, both at my coming from
London and also since my coming into the
country, and my wife for this fortnight or three
weeks hath been visited with an ague, and
doubteth much that it will breed a quartain.
She is, above the years of threescore and ten,
and cannot go so much as into her garden to
take any air, and my daughter the Lady Mal-
travers continueth still sick and little able to
keep any company. And your good Lordships
will rightly understand that .my house is very
unmeet to give the charge and safe keeping of
such a person as the said Lady Grey is. By all
the times of the night they may come to the win-
dows of any chamber in my house, and talk and
speak with her and deliver letters unto her, and,
if she keep so disposed, she may either let them
into her chamber or go out to them at the loops
of the windows, if they choose thereat to abide.
"Wherefore I most humbly beseech the Queen her
Majesty, with the consent and advice of your right
honorable Privy Council, that I naay be hereof
discharged, for better it were for me to come up

224 Life and Letters of [1566.

to London and yield myself prisoner during my
life, than to take upon me the charge to keep
the said Lady in such straight order as is pre-
scribed unto me, for that I am not able to
discharge myself thereof according to my duty
and trust that the Queen her Majesty hath pur-
posed unto me in that behalf. Thus leaving to
your Lordships, beseeching the Almighty God
long to preserve your honours. Written this
14th of May, 1566.

^^ By your most humble to command,

" John Wentworth.^'

The unhappy knight obtained no release.
He was obliged to receive the whole train in
his house, and only escaped by dying within a
year — ^possibly through the unreasonable responsi-
bility and cares heaped upon him at such an age.

Even the poor consolation of dying in peace
was denied to Katherine. She was again trans-
ferred to the care of Sir Owen Hopton, who
was to keep her at his private house instead of
in the Tower. The order to him shows the
same unfeeling spirit that had all along been
manifested, and his answer illustrates the un-
warrantable manner in which the comfort of
private houses could be invaded in that happy
age:—

1565.] Lady Arabella Stuart 225

Mr. Rook Green to Sir William Cecil.*

'^ After my Immble duty to your honour remem-
bered, whereas I have lately received from the
same letters by the which I understand that the
Queen^s Majesty^s pleasure is that since it hath
pleased Almighty God to call unto his mercy Sir
John Wentworth, I should take the charge he
had of the Lady Katherine until her Highness*
resolutions were further known therein. Foras-
much as the funeral of the said Mr. Wentworth is
now done, and that my Lady his wife and I, as his
executors, have taken such order with his goods
here as the time will serve ; I have now no further
to do with this house, but the same doth belong
unto her Ladyship, who, besides her great age,
which is above 71, is grown weak and sickly, as it
is to be feared she cannot long continue without
she shortly amend. And, as I hear, the Lady
Maltravers, her daughter, doth not mind to
keep the house, but is better disposed to sojourn
in a convenient place for her Ladyship. So
that if I should be thought meet to have the
charge of the said Lady Katherine, I must
remove her from hence unto my house, which is
nothing meet, for many respects, for such a

* State Papers, Eliz., Dom., xliv. fol. 24, M8.
VOL. I. Q

226 Life and Letters of [j^S^S*

personage. I have no wife to take the charge
of my house, the want whereof hath occasioned
me to Ke most part at the said Mr. Wentworth's,
whose kinsman I was. My honse and position
is neither within nor without famished meet to
receive such a charge. My business is most
times such, by the occasion of the great charge
of children I have, that I am much enforced to
be from my house. Sir, I do not deal thus
plainly and truly with you for that I am loth to
take the charge of her Ladyship (if I were meet
for the same) for any misliking I have of her or
hers, for I must for trutVs sake confess as one
that hath had good experience of her Ladyship's
behaviour, how that it hath been very honorable
and quiet, and her Ladyship's servants very
orderly. But my only insufficiency, and partly
for the causes before touched, moveth me to be a
humble suitor unto your honour to have conside-
ration unto the Privy Council, and to be a mean
unto her Majesty to know her Grace's resolution
and pleasure concerning the said Lady Katherine,
and that I may be informed of the same fix)m
you by the bearer which I will appoint and
perform according to my most bounden duty
and to the best of my power. And thus
I most humbly take my leave of your
honour.

1567-] Lady Arabella Stuart. 227

"From Gosfield Hall, in Essex, the 3rd day
of October, 1561.

" Your most humble at commandment,
" Book Green /^

The Queen to Sir Owen Hopton.*

" Right trusty and wellbeloved, we greet you
well. Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God to
call to his mercy Sir John Wentworth, Knight, to
whom the custody of the Lady Katherine was by
us remitted, we thought meet upon special trust
of your faithfulness and discretion to commit her
to your custody. Wherefore we will and tequire
you that upon the sight hereof and conference
with Mr. Book Green, one of the executors of Sir
John Wentworth, either by himself or other
knowledge from him in his behalf, ye do receive
the said Lady Katherine into your custody, with
such necessary servants as she presently hath to
attend upon her. And that ye do not suflTer her
to have any conference with any stranger, nor
that auy visits be made unto her other than by
yourself and of your household. And in case you
shall be constrained either for pleasure or
for neighbourhood to have any repair to your
table, that she be not permitted to be in com-

* State Papers, Eliz., Dom., xliv., fol. 31, MS.

228 Life and Letters of [^567.

pany of them, but so to be excluded as yourself
and your wife be not thereby restrained from the
entertainment of any of your friends. And
generally we require you and your wife to keep
her, as one committed to your charge, from con-
ference or rights of strangers according to the
trust we repose in you. And as occasion shaU
arise wherein you shall desire to know our
pleasure, you may thereof advertise such of our
Privy Council of whom you shall receive answer.
And for the charges of the debts of her and her
necessary servants attending upon her, you shall
be satisfied as by the aforesaid Rook Green you
may at more length understand was answered for
the same to the said Sir John Wentworth.^^

Sir Owen Hopton to Sir William Cecil*

^' My duty most humbly remembered. May
it like your honour to be advertised that the
sixth of this month, I received the Queen her
Highness^ letters, touching the charge and cus-
tody of the Lady Katherine. Her Highness'
pleasure wherein I shall in all points endeavour
to accomplish as one that dare not presume to
make suit to the contrary. Although I have
J i cause. For it may please you to under-

honou * State Papers, Eliz., Dom., xliv.

]

T567.] Lady Arabella Stuart 229

stand that I was presently prepared with my
wife and small household to lie at the little
house in Ipswich. And have disposed all things
touching my provision in such sort as I must be
more driven speedily to alter the same. And to
rest in my poor house and place in Ipswich is in
all respects unfit for the charge now imposed
unto me. I was upon this occasion driven to
treat with Mr. Rook Green, one of the exe-
cutors of Sir John Wentworth, to stay the Lady
Katherine there where she now remains tiU the
20th of this month, at which time I mean to receive
her. And in the mean time to furnish my self
of things requisite as I may. And thus much I
thought it my duty to advise your honour of
my doings herein, I most humbly praying at all
times your good aid and opinion in my 'doings.
Wherein I trust not to disappoint your good
expectation. And so I humbly take my leave,
the 11th of October, 1567.

'^ Yours at all times to command,

^^ Owen Hopton.'^

It was the last change that Lady Katherine
was compelled to make. Sir Owen Hopton
received her into his country house of Cockfield
Hall, Yoxford, Suffolk, and there she slowly but
surely continued to sink. At the time of her

230 Life and Letters of [1568.

removal from tlie Tower, her husband was also
transferred to a private house in London, belong-
ing to Lady Mason, but no fiarther mercy was
extended ; he was not allowed to see his dying
wife, and was probably kept in ignorance of her
fitate of health.

Early in January, 1568, Katherine became so
weak as to be obliged to keep her bed. She
declared her belief that she should not recover,
and Sir Owen Hopton wrote to Cecil describing
her condition, and begging him to ask the Queen
again to permit the attendance of Dr. Symonds,
one of the royal physicians who had lately
attended her.*

But what royal physician could heal a broken

heart?

"Cure her of that:
Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased ;
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow ;
Baze out the written trouhles of the brain ;
And with some sweet oblivious antidote,
Cleanse the stufiTd bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weighs upon the heart ?"

Once even this could have been done, but
now it was all too late, and even at this hour
she was denied a last farewell of her lonely
lord.

* Letter of Sir Owen Hopton to Cecil.— State Papers, Eliz.,
Dom., kvi. fol. 1, MS.

1568.] Lady Arabella Stuart 231

On the night of the 27th of January, she
besought the service for the dying, and listened
to the prayers and psahns of the church, which
she only interrupted when she had strength from
time to time to give utterance to her supplica-
tions to Heaven with her own lips. Her servants
tried even then to inspire her with earthly hope,
so pitiful did it seem to them for one so young
to leave the world without one recompense, even
there, for all her unmerited sufferings; and
they said, "Madam, be of good comfort;
with God^s help you shall live and do many
years/'

But Katherine answered, " No, no ; no life in
this world ; but in the world to come I hope to
live ever, for here is nothing but care and misery,
and there is life everlasting/' As she uttered
these words a deadly faintness oppressed her,
and she called out, " Lord, be merciful to me.
Father in Heaven, for thy Son Christ's sake have
mercy upon me I" Again, Lady Hopton tried
to recall her to the world, and said, '^ Madam,
be of good comfort, for with Grod his favour,
you shall live and escape this, for Mr. Cousen
saith you have escaped many dangers when you
were as like to die as you be now.'' '^ No, no,
my Lady," said Katherine, " my time is come,
and it is not Gk)d's will that I should live any

232 Life and Letters of [1568.

longer, and His will be done, and not mine : as
I am, so shall yon be ; behold the picture of
yourselves \"

So passed the dreary night, and, as the grey
of morning began to break, she sent for Sir
Owen Hopton. " Good madam, how do you do?^'
said the knight. ^' Even now going to God, Sir
Owen,^^ she answered, '^ even as fast as I can ;
^nd I pray you, and the rest that be about me,
to bear witness with me that I die a true Christian,
and that I believe to be saved by the death of
Christ, and that I am one that He hath shed His
most precious blood for, and I ask God and all the
world forgiveness, and I forgive all the world/^

As she uttered these words, thoughts of her
two little sons came over her, and she said to
Sir Owen Hopton, '^ I beseech you promise me
one thing, that you yourself with your own
mouth will make this request unto the Queen^s
Majesty, which shall be the last suit and request
that ever I shall make unto her Highness, even
from the mouth of a dead woman: that she
would forgive her displeasure toward me, as my
hope is she hath done ; I must needs confess I
have greatly oflfended her in that I made my
choice without her knowledge, otherwise I take
God to witness, I had never the heart to think
any evil against her Majesty, and that she would

15^8.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 233

be good unto my children, and not impute my
fault unto them, whom I give wholly unto her
Majesty, for in my life they have had few friends,
and fewer shall they have when I am dead, ex-
cept her Majesty be gracious unto them. And
I desire her Highness to be good unto my lord,
for I know this my death will be heavy news
for him, that her Grace will be so good as to
send liberty to glad his sorrowful heart withal.
I shall further desire you to deliver from me
certain commendations and tokens unto my
lord.^'

She then told her maid to give her the box
containing her wedding-ring and ring of be-
trothal, and, having taken out the latter, she
said to Sir Owen, " Here, Sir Owen, deliver this
unto my lord, this is the ring that I received
of him when I gave myself unto him and gave
him my faith. This was the ring of my assur-
ance unto my lord.^^

She then gave the knight her wedding-ring,
saying, '^Deliver this also unto my lord, and
pray him even as I have been to him, as I take
Grod to witness I have been, a true and a faithful
wife, that he would be a loving and a natural
father unto my children, unto whom I give the
same blessing that God gave unto Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob.^'

234 Life and Letters oj [1568.

A strange remembrance followed, doubtless
bom of the horrors of her long captivity. She
took a third ring, set with a Death's head, en-
circled with the motto, ^^ While I lyve yours^^
and said, " This shall be the last token unto my
lord that ever I shall send him. It is the
picture of myself.^'

A purple hue overspread her fingers, and as
she beheld it she said, " Welcome Death,'* and
raising her eyes and hands to Heaven, she prayed,
" O Lord, for thy manifold mercies blot out of
Thy book all mine offences.''

As the dread Presence approached nearer and
nearer. Sir Owen sent to the church to toll the
passing bell. She heard the order, and said,
"Good Sir Owen, let it be so." The solemn
tones of the bell accompanied her dying words.
She prayed for some time silently, and suddenly
uttering the words, " O Lord, into Thy hands I
commit my soul. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,"
she closed her eyes, and gently yieldedup her spirit.

Thus perished, at the age of twenty-nine, the
Lady Katherine Hertford, the victim of a foul
act of despotism, a memorable example of inno-
cence and weakness crushed beneath the iron
heel of power. Those who. identify strength and
success with justice and right, and look on

1568.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 235

weakness and failnre as imbecilities that merit
whatever wrongs they may receive, may here
read a striking illustration of the eflTects of their
favourite doctrine.

Some, anxious to relieve the Queen from this
dark blot on her brilliant reputation, have endea-
voured to fasten the crimes of treason and apostacy
on her injured cousin. But not a single proof
has been adduced ; nothing that Queen Elizabeth
herself could allege, as a cause of condemnation.
Report could utter nothing but a few flying
words, out of which the bitterest enemies of
Katherine could not concoct a cause against her.
Cecil, the stanchest Protestant and most loyal
subject of his time, declared his belief in her
innocence. She lived and died a Protestant, and
with her last breath protested that her only
offence against the Queen had been that of
marrying without her consent. That act gave
Elizabeth no excuse, for Katherine's relationship
did not come within the degrees named by the
statute of Henry VIII. ; and as to the plea of
no marriage, the names given by the people to
Katherine and her son bear witness to the
opinion, in her own day, of her virtue and truth.
Even looking at the marriage as false, the cause
of morality, of which Elizabeth professed herseK

236 Life and Letters of [1568.

80 severe a guardian, required a conduct the very
reverse of what she followed. A public marriage
was the only remedy in the eyes of virtue, hateful
though it might be to prudery, which is by no
means a synonym for the principle it alBFects to
personify.

Strange to say, while an exact account of the
expenses of Katherine's funeral remains,* the
spot where she was first interred is not recorded.
In the parish register of Yoxford, an entry of her
burial is still to be seen; and a tradition long
remained among the inhabitants of Yoxford that,
after her death, her little dog refused food and
pined away on her grave. It is not probable
that her husband was allowed to carry out his
cherished desire, during the reign of Elizabeth,
of placing the remains of'Katherine in the vault
where his own were to rest. But that was
eventually accomplished; and though Hertford
was twice married after the loss of his early love,
in death he returned to her. His second and
third wives are buried in distant graves. Kathe-
rine alone sleeps by his side. In Salisbury
Cathedral, after the inscription on the tomb,
'^Saered to the memory of Edward, Earl of
Hertford,^' may be read the following lines :—

* See Appendix II. e.

3568.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 237

ALSO, TO HIS BEAR AND BELOVED WIFE,
CATHERINE,

DAUGHTER OF HENBY AND FBANCES GBBY, DUKE AND

DUCHESS OF SUFFOLK, AND HEIBES8 OF

CHABLES BBANDON, DUEE OF SUFFOLK, AND MABY,

BISTEB OF HENBY Till., AND QUEEN OF THE FBENCH :

BY THE WILL OF HEB GBEAT UNCLE AND

HENB7 YII., HEB GBEAT-GBANDFATHEB.

A MATCHLESS PAIB,

WHO, AFTEB EXFBBIENCING IN MANY WAYS THE

HAZABD8 OF A WAYEBING FOBTUNB,

AT LENGTH BEFOSE HEBE TOGETHEB IN THE SAME UNION

IN WHICH THEY LIVED.

SHE,

A BABE MODEL OF .VIBTUE, PIETY, BEAUTY, AND FIDELITY,

THE BEST AND MOST ILLUSTBIOUS, NOT FOB HEB OWN

AGE, BUT FOB ALL TIME,

PEACEFULLY AND PIOUSLY BBEATHED HEB LAST,

ON THE 22nd of JANUABY.*

It has been stated by some that the imprison-
ment of the Earl was continued for nine years after
Katherine^s death. The exact date of his release
has not as yet been ascertained, but a letter of
his, dated June 10th, 167 l,t is written from his
house at Tottenham, where he still bemoans his
captivity. At first sight, to be a prisoner in
his own house, seems light, but when we re-

* The date is here erroneous. Catherine died on the 27th
of January.

t State Papers, Eliz., Dom., xlvi. fol. 74, MS.

238 Life and Letters of [1568.

member that lie was sTirrounded by spies and
gaolers who watched him as much as if he were
in the Tower, we can well understand his bitter
lamentations, which express no more relief than
when uttered from the State prison. When, at
last, the hour of release came, his best years
had vanished, his health was sapped, his spirit
crushed, and all manly spring and energy were
destroyed. The romantic lover disappears from
the scene, and in his place appears a slavish
courtier, trembling at the lightest word of
the Queen. So many noble minds have been
broken by long captivity that, saddened as
we must feel at the degrading transformation,
we must pause ere we condemn. Ten years'
imprisonment, surrounded by spies, and cut
off from every influence that could cheer and
ennoble, needed a mind of the strongest calibre,
as well as the physical aid of health, to pass
unscathed through such a wasting trial. To
offend the Queen was now the great dread of
Hertford's life. Yet he never ceased secretly to
endeavour to establish the rights of Katherine's
children. In 1580, 1588, and 1589, notarial
instruments were drawn up by Thomas Red-
Daan, a public notary, declaring Thomas Sey-
mour to be the " lawful and legitimate son of
Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford and Dame

^5^5-1 Lady Arabella Stuart 239

Katherine his wife" * The Earl also secretly
placed a record in the Court of Arches to prove
his marriage with Katherine lawful and his
two children legitimate ; but the intelligence of
this last act reached the Queen, and she gave
speedy proof that her hatred had not died with
Katherine. Never should the children of her
cousin succeed to the claims which had rendered
their mother unbearable to the Queen. The
Earl was immediately sent to the Tower, where,
overwhelmed with the remembrance of his for-
mer misery, he made such humble submission
to her Majesty, that after imprisoning him for
four months, she signed an order for his release,
with the understood condition that his children
were to retain' the stigma of illegitimacy, which
deprived them of aU claim to the Succession
under the WiU of Henry VIII.

The two sons grew up to man^s estate, always,
notwithstanding every act of Elizabeth, treated
as the 'lawful children of Katherine, always
spoken of by the people as Lord Beauchamp
and Lord Thomas Seymour.

In 1585, Lord Beauchamp married Honora,
daughter of Sir Richard Rogers, Knight. By
her he had two sons — Edward and William, the
latter bom in 1587.

* State Papers, Eliz., Dom., MS.

240 Life and Letters of [1585.

The above narrative will fully explain the
Queen's sudden outburst of rage, when Arabella
Stuart — by so many esteemed the heiress to
the crown — ^was declared in treaty of marriage
with William Seymour, the son of Lord Beau-
champ, and grandson of the unhappy, injured
Katherine.

* Shall 6anqao*s issne ever

Seign in this kingdom ;
No son of mine succeeding P"

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 241

CHAPTER IX.

THE FIRST IMPRISONMENT OF ARABELLA.

N the beginning of the year 1603,
the Queen's health gave such decided
tokens of failure that thosewhowerenot
in the secret of Robert Cecilys correspondence with
the King of Scotland began to ponder stiU more
anxiously than ever on the fate of the kingdom.
To many of the English nobles the prospect of
the succession of James was distasteful in the
highest degree. ^^Many persons,^' writes the'
French ambassador, Beaumont, to his master,
^'who know his (the Scotch king^s) practices,
and consider the conduct of his life and designs,
greatly doubt that things will go wrong by his
means, and others fear in general his humour,
which is said to be very cruel and avaricious.'^*

This party, however, was not strong enough to
organize any plan to prevent the succession of
James, and their dislike to him was only mani-
fested by praising Arabella Stuart, and endea-

* Despatches of Beaumont.
VOL. I. R

242 Life arid Letters of [1603.

voimng, by their words, to make her more
popular and prominent.* Still by this conduct
their inclinations were shown, and Arabella's name
had too often been used as a byword by plotters
at home and enemies abroad, to render it quite
safe utterly to disregard these symptoms at so
eventful a moment.

The conduct of Arabella herself is involved
in some mystery at this time, which, owing to
the loss of her letters and those of the Shrews-
bury family at this period, cannot be satisfactorily
cleared; though, at the same time, as in the
case of Katherine Grey, the accusations of plot-
ting for the Succession are based on nothing
better than rumour.

On one side, she is accused of endeavouring,
by marriage, to unite her claims with those of
the house of Hertford, preparatory to assert-
ing her right to the throne ; on the other, the
whole affair is treated as a jest, got up by her to
teaze the Earl of Hertford ; while a third account
•denies that either of these ideas was entertained
by her. Unfortunately, we have not a single
letter or report of the opinion of those who alone
€Ould know the truth. The French ambassador,
who was certainly not in the confidence of Cecil,
though shaken at times, is generally of opinion
* Despatches of Beaumont.

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart 243

that the whole matter was a trifle, while the Vene-
tian ambassador, who, admitted for the first time,
was not likely to possess better sources of infor-
mation than Beaumont, unhesitatingly ascribes
the death of the Queen to the ambition of Ara-
bella, whom he styles, ^^ Omicida delta Regina,^^

A colour was added to the suspicions against
Arabella by the suicide of her chaplain, who
hanged himseK immediately after her arrest, an
act which by her enemies was attributed to his
remorse and despair at the discovery of a plot in
which he had engaged in her behalf. But the
French ambassador, after making particular in-
quiries, discovered that the chaplain had com-
mitted suicide from disappointment at having
lost a benefice, leaving behind him a paper so
full of the praises of Arabella that those who
sought for grounds of suspicion, considered that
he must have some special motive for his lauda-
tion.t

But even these reports had little effect at
first. Arabella was not considered dangerous
till the extraordinary effect of the report on the
Queen gave weight to the matter.

On the 26th of February, Beaumont writes

* Preface to " Calendar of State Papers," Venice. By
Eawdon Brown, Esq.

f Despatches of Beaumont.

K 2

244 Life and Letters of [1603.

to Villeroi: '^ What I have written to his Majesty
concerning the marriage of Madame Arbella is
confirmed by the judgment of the wisest and most
penetrating. People are only astonished that the
Queen has lost her repose for some days about it.
And fearing that there is something greater than
is known, since she shows herself to be so strongly
moved about it. I think that this inqiiietude is
natural and pardonable at her age about a sub-
ject dangerous enough to be dealt with, though
it must only be attributable to her humour.'^

In a letter to the French King, Beaumont
declares his belief that the marriage " has been
brought in question by some one who has a
desire to get the Earl of Hertford, who is rich
and envied, in trouble. For,^' he adds, with
justice, " it would not be probable if there were a
greater design in this affair that it would have
been discovered to the Queen by the old Earl of
Hertford and the old Countess of Shrewsbury,
who have both the means and the authority to
consider it together.'^

" On the 6th of March,^^ De Beaumont writes,
"I have found also that the letter. which she
(Arabella) wrote to the Earl of Hertford con-
tained only words of courtesy and credit for the
bearer, and not of marriage with his grandson, as
was published.^^

1 6o3 .] Lady A rdbella Stuart 245

The last letter seems to throw some light on
the matter. Notwithstanding the slavish terror
with which Hertford regarded the Queen, it is
scarcely probable that he should have been the first
to betray so dangerous a letter. The chance is
rather that he showed the letter to Elizabeth in
order to prove the falsehood of the reports that
alarmed her. The following curious letter of
Arabella is preserved in the Ashmolean Library
at Oxford^ and is without the date of the year,
but was probably written at this time : —

Lady Arabella Stuart to Edward Talbot.^

'^NoBLE Gentleman, — I am as unjustly accused
of contriving a comedy as you (in my con-
science) a tragedy. Counsellers are acquainted
with both our bad hands, but whilst we may
wash our hands in innocence, let the grand
accuser and all his ministers do their worst, God
will be on our side and reveal the truth to our
most gracious sovereign, maugre all wicked and
indirect practises wherewith some seek to mis-
inform her Majesty. But I thank the Almighty,
it pleaseth her Highness to deal most graciously
with me, and by her Majesty's commandment,
have liberty to choose my friends, by whom I

* Printed in Ballard*8 " Memoirs."

246 Life and Letters of [1603.

may better inform her Majesty of some matters
nearly concerning herself and divers of the very
best fidends you and I have. Therefore I re-
quest yon most earnestly to deliver a message
from me to her sacred. Majesty, which shall
be greatly to her Majesty^s contentment, your
honour and behoofe, and is of great importance.
It requireth great haste, and I have advertised a
most honorable privy counsellor that I have
sent for you to employ you in her Majesty's
service, so that you may not excuse yourself or
lose time in your own respect, whom it concerns
more ways than this. And of your own honor-
able disposition, I doubt not but you would
bestow a journey hither and to the court for my
sake.

'^ I pray you. in kindest manner, commend
me to my Lady Ogle and sweet Mrs. Talbot,
whom I am very desirous to see, and entreat her
to hasten you hither, for the sooner you come,
the better for us all.

^' Your Father's love and your
" Faithfiil friend,

'^Arbella Stuart.^'

Superscribed,
'To my honorable and assured good Friend,
Mr. Edward Talbot."

Endorsed, 16th Feb.

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart 247

One of the most profound reasons for sus-
pecting a plot was, "the great familiarity and
ordinary communication of Mr. Cecil with the
Earl of Shrewsbury, uncle of Madame Arbella."*
Now that the secret correspondence of Cecil has
been unveiled, all this is intelligible. The un-
certain state of the Succession had long rendered
it necessary for the peace of the kingdom that
this most important question should not be left
to the decision of a possible civil war, and the
Queen herself rendered it quite impossible to
discuss and settle the matter openly. And in
order to prevent the hostile parties from co-
alescing it was better, as well as from acqui-
escence in the wishes of the Queen, to keep the
matter a secret. But Cecil was placed in a diffi-
cult position; and it was possibly the gnawing
fear that he too might be in the plot, that deep-
ened the bitterness of suspicion in the Queen,
even if she were convinced by Hertford of the
unfounded nature of the report of Arabella's
marriage with his grandson. Cecil's kindness to
Arabella made matters worse, and the probability
is, that there was an understanding between him
and the Shrewsbury family to keep Arabella out
of the way tiQ the dangerous crisis should be past.
The friendly feeling maintained between Cecil
* Despatclies of Beaumont.

248 Life and Letters of [1603.

and the Shrewsburys during the whole time of
Arabella's detention seems to justify this view of
the matter.

The death of the Countess of Nottingham is
stated by all contemporaries to have produced a
sad effect on the Queen, though none make the
slightest allusion to the story of the ring; but
on the contrary, her tears and anguish are uni-
formly attributed to her affection for the countess
and her grief for her loss. Arabella was now
removed to Sheriff Hutton ; * and so completely
were the people in ignorance of the real state of
the Queen's feelings with regard to her, that a
second and contradictory report was spread that
she would shortly be declared heiress to the
Crown.

Henry IV. became anxious on the subject,
and wrote to Beaumont for a personal account
of Arabella, and desired especially to know if she
was a Eoman Catholic. To the latter question
Beaumont returned answer : " I have never heard
that the said lady was of any other religion than
that of this kingdom -" and on the 15th of March,
writing to Villeroi, he says : ^^ Whether Madame
Arbella will be brought to this town, and there
made to live in prison, or at liberty, I cannot yet
tell you, such is the diversity of opinion and
* Lingard.

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart 249

judgment ; but I think rather the last than the
first. Some call the affair a comedy, others a
tragi-comedy. For myself, I confess to you that
I cannot yet see clearly enough to give any
name. Still I always keep to my first and
strongest opinion that I have sent you — that I
see no great cause for alarm.^'

Elizabeth grew worse rapidly. On the 19th
of March, the Lords of the Council came to a
resolution to close the ports if the Queen's
malady increased. On the same day, Beaumont
wrote to the King of France by far the most
reasonable explanation of the Queen's condition
that has been given. Physical causes were at
the root of her decay, and her state of bodily
health rendered her unable to cope with phantoms,
which, to the eye of disease, appeared monstrous
realities. The Queen, who had passed tri-
mnphantly through a reign beset with every
danger that can waylay a crown, — ^who had not
lost a grain of courage when- the whole force
of the mightiest kingdom in the world was
sent forth to attack her — ^was not likely to crouch
and die terror-stricken or heart-broken because
a woman was said to be plotting to succeed her.
Elizabeth had one way of acting in these cases —
viz., to seize the suspected persons, and shut
them up in some safe prison, without muck

250 Life and Letters of [1603.

melancholy on the subject. Long before it was
suspected, her health was undermined. In 1601,
when she went to open Parliament, the weight of
the royal purple, hitherto so proudly borne, proved
too heavy for her aged and sinking frame. She
staggered, and would have fallen but for the
support of the peers who stood near her. And
though she went through all the business of the
State, and six weeks before her death is described
by the Venetian ambassador as if in good health,
stiQ, despite all her jewelled and gorgeous attire
and brave bearing, the spoiler was sapping her
strength.

On the 19th of March, Beaumont wrote to
the King of France : " I have thought it my duty
to send a courier to your Majesty in advance, in
order to tell you that, since seventeen days, the
Queen has been very ill. And that, having
slept little or nothing during this time, and
eaten much less than usual, she is seized with a
restlessness which is yet not a decided fever*
She has an insupportable fire in the stomach and
a continual thirst in the mouth, which constrains
her every minute to moisten it, in order that the
hot dry phlegm with which she is pressed may
not choke her. Some attribute the cause of her
illness to the extreme displeasure that she has
conceived in her mind about what has passed

1 6o3 .] Lady Arabella Stuart 251

concerning Madame Arbella; others about the
affairs of Ireland, in which she was forced by
those of her Council, against her nature and
courage, to give the pardon she had so long
refused to the Earl of Tyrone. Many also de-
clare that she is seized in her heart with remorse
for the death of the Earl of Essex, who was
beheaded just two years ago. All agree that she
is worse. She has shown an extraordinary melan-
choly in her countenance and her actions. But
it is much more probable that the infirmities of
her age and the fear of death have played the
greatest part; for, besides the admirable care
that she takes to preserve her health, by the
regimen of her life and the tempering of her
passions, I do not think that the above causes
have been sufficient to make such a change in
her mind, that her body would feel it with such
violence.^^

A member of Lord Burghley^s household, and
therefore one who must have had good chances
of knowing the truth, also writes of her last days :
" She was wholly addicted to silence and solitari-
ness, which gave occasion of suspicion that she
was afflicted in mind ; but being moved by some
of her Council to impart such grief as they
doubted might trouble her, she answered, that
she ' knew nothing in the world worthy to trouble

252 Life and Letters of [1603.

her/ And it is a constant opinion of such as
were most inward with her, that she was then
free from any such impression, as it is not alto-
gether unlikely, considering that melancholy
diseases (as physicians tell ns) proceed not always
from the indisposition of the mind, but sometimes
from the distemperature of humour in the body,
causing a kind of numbness and stupefaction of
the senses/^*

The same authority tells us that, on being
desired to provide for her spiritual wants
and recommend her soul to God, she replied,
mildly, ^^ That I have done long ago/' And
Camden, who was also a contemporary, speaks
of Arabella's proposed marriage as '^a false
report/'

The story of Arabella's conduct having any-
thing to do with the Queen's death may there-
fore be dismissed as one of the unfounded
reports got up by those who, ignorant of real
causes, will assign any rather than acknowledge
themselves not admitted to confidence. The
melancholy and morbid feelings that saddened the
last hours of Queen Elizabeth, and which have
afforded so eloquent a subject for shallow moral-
ists to discourse upon, were simply such as might
have beset the best and strongest nature clouded
* Ellis, " Letters," Third Series, vol. iii. p. 194

1 603 .] Lady Arabella Stuart 253

and struggUug with a mortal malady. Con-
temptible is the spirit that would extract the
petty triumph of a Pharisee from the pangs of
departing greatness, and represent those agonies
as the effect of a life which, darkened as it was
with the spots of a semi-barbarous and despotic
age, had proved invaluable to the best interests
of her country, and stands out in glorious con-
trast with those of her wholly selfish and inferior
successors.

On the 22nd of March, the ports were closed,
and Beaumont writes : '^ For three days, the
Queen has been looked upon as dead, having
remained very long in a cold sweat without
speaking, and sometime before, she had said she
wished to live no longer and desired death.
Yesterday, and the day before yesterday, she
began to repose and to feel better, after a little
gland in the form of an imposthume, or, as
some say, an ulcer in her throat, had burst,,
which greatly relieved her.^^

On the 28th, he writes : '"The illness of the
Queen continues and grows worse, with signs
and symptoms such as make her life generally
despaired of. She already seems in a state of
stupefaction, and remains sometimes for two or
three hours without speaking. For two days,
she has remained seated on cushions, with her

254 Life and Letters of [1603.

finger almost always in her mouthy her eyes open
and fixed on the ground/'

On the 1st of April, he writes : " The Queen
draws now towards her end. Since yesterday,
she has been given up by all her physicians.
She has been lifted into bed by force, having
been for ten days seated on cushions dressed,
and without wishing to repose or undress for
a single hour. She seemed better, and asked
for some broth, which gave her attendants some
hope. But shortly after, speech left her, and
since then she has eaten nothing, and now re-
mains lying on her side, without speaking or
looking at any one. Yesterday she had some
meditations read to her, and among others those
of M. Duplessis. In this state, I do not think
she can make a will or declare her successor.
The Lords of the Council have already begun to
call together the earls and barons of the king-
dom who are in the city, and have sent for the
greater number of those absent, among whom
the Earl of Hertford has refused to come.''

On the night of the 23rd of March,* the lord
admiral, the lord keeper, and the secretary,*
Cecil, approached the bedside of the Queen, and

* MS. of Lady Southwell. The dates of Beaumont's letters
are five days later than those of the English State Papers. I
have, however, given them unaltered.

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart 255

asked her to name her successor. She seemed
still speechless, and, perhaps to test the state of
her intellect, they asked if the King of France
should succeed her. She returned no answer ;
and when they proposed the King of Scotland
she still remained mute. A third time they
spoke, and proposed the Lord Beauchamp, eldest
son of Katherine Grey. That name pierced
even the " dull cold ear '^ of approaching death.
Elizabeth for an instant recovered speech, and
with inextinguishable hate she spent her last
eflTorts against the son of her dead rival. She
said hastily, '^ I will have no rascal's son in my
seat '" and spoke no more in this world. By
various signs she was supposed to intimate her
wish that James should succeed her, but, like all
such signs, obscurity confuses them, and nothing
of certain import can be drawn from such vague
intimations. A few hours after midnight she
ceased to breathe; and, by the precautions of
Cecil and his friends, the unjust Will of Henry
VIII. was disregarded, and the country thus
saved from civil war ; the King of Scotland was
proclaimed so peacefully, that Beaumont de-
clared "there appeared no sort of alteration
or division any more than if the reign had
not changed, every man having returned to
his trade and his business, and the Lords of

256 Life and Letters of [1^03. \

the Council to assemble and dispense justice as ]

before/' 1

That Arabella was considered harmless and I

innocent by all those most likely to be informed, 1

may be judged by her being appointed chief
mourner at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth.
But the coldness and suspicion with which she
had for so many years been regarded by her
royal kinswoman now had its natural effect.
She rejected the proffered honour, saying, that
"sith her access to the Queen in her lifetime
might not be permitted, she would not after her
death be brought upon the stage for a public
spectacle/'*

And a public spectacle she certainly would
have been, attracting the liveliest curiosity afker
all the gossip that had lately been circulated
against her.

Mystery stiQ hangs over the report which,
carried to every Court of Europe, threw a doubt
over the English Succession, which was not
solved tUl the peaceable proclamation of James
dispersed the phantom. One thing, however, is
remarkable as exhibiting the spirit of the time
with regard to matrimony. No astonishment is
exhibited at the discrepancy of age in the two
parties, nor is that once alleged as an obstacle.

* Sloane MS., 718.

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 257

At the time that Arabella Stuart was accused of
making the proposal, she was twenty-seven and
William Seymour a boy of fifteen ! But these
things never stood in the way of a political
alliance. Charles IX. of Prance was not only
proposed as a husband for Queen Elizabeth, but
the silly boy declared himself desperately ena-
moured of her. It is true there are occasions
in which even so great a diflference in age, and
" on the wrong side/^ as the saying is-r-^.e., when
the woman is older than her husband — ^proves no
impediment to mutual happiness. Sut then
both parties must not only be characters above
the average, but the younger must be of an
age in which the character is settled and serious
enough to feel the ftdl measure of the respon-
sibilities of life — old in wisdom and knowledge,
if young in years. Such were the conditions
that crowned with felicity the marriage of Eliza-
beth Rowe, who was twelve years older than her
husband ; and that of the celebrated Kahel
Vamhagen von Ense, who, in a union with a
man thirteen years younger than herself, found
a devotion and a faithfiilness for which youthful
beauties continually sigh in vain, so rare are
they indeed under any circumstances. But in
both these cases the lovers were exceptional men,
high above the common standard, and requiring

VOL. I. s

258 Life and Letters of [1603*

that intellectual and spiritual sympathy only
needed and recognised by a peculiar and profound
order of mind.

That Arabella Stuart could feel the slightest
gleam of love for a boy of fifteen was impossible^
and the charge brought against her in 1603,
would, if proved, stamp her as a worldly, specu-
lating woman, capable of sacrificing the highest
feelings of her nature to an alliance, suitable
in birth and fortune, but ridiculous in every
other respect — at the time she is first accused.

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart 259

CHAPTER X.

THE ACCESSION OF JAMES THE FIRST.

In the 5th of April, 1603, the Solomon
of Britain set ont on horseback, with
a large retinue, for his English domi-
nions. Through every town he passed, a gorgeous
hospitality and welcome awaited him, enough to
dazzle the man who, in his poverty-stricken
realm of Scotland, had not money enough for
his household without the aid of Queen Eliza-
beth.

His first act of ungraciousness was shown in re-
pulsing the people who came iA crowds to see him,
by declaring that their multitudes rendered provi-
sions so dear wherever he went, as to oppress the
country, and that, therefore, only those who had
special business should be allowed to approach
him, ^^ some of great name and office being sent
home to their places.^' Among these were Sir
Walter Raleigh, whose proud spirit could ill
brook the afiront, and Lord Cobham, afterwards
associated with him in the charge of treason.

s 2

260 Life and Letters of ^[1603.

The Earl of Shrewsbury had signed the pna--
clamation^ and now, with the accustomed loyalty
of his fiimily, he gave the King a royal reception
at Worksop, one of the houses built by Bess.
Here James should also have been received
by Arabella, but for some reason she appears to
have still remained at Sheriff Hutton; though
the offer made to her to attend the late Queen^s
funeral seems to prove her at liberty.

Earl Gilbert invited his friends from far andnear,
and swept the country for '^fatt capons, hennes,
partridges, and the like.^^* As the King rode
through the park, a number of huntsmen, dressed
in green, came out and offered to show him some
game — a piece of politeness dearer to the heart of
James than anything else could be. He accepted
the offer and, after a vigorous chase, he went
into the house, where, says a tract of the time,
" he was so nobly received with superfluitie of all
things, that still every entertainment seemed to
exceed other.^^ Excellent music accompanied a
luxurious and profuse banquet, after which the
King retired to rest, and after breakfast the next
morning, took his departure. Such a store of
provision was left after the breakfast of ''fowl,
fish, and almost everything, besides bread, beere,
and wine, that it was left open for any man that

* Letter of the Earl of Shrewsbury. — Hunter's "Shef-
faeld," 93.

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 261

would to come and take/^ No wonder that Earl
Gilbert got in debt. There was, however, besides
the traditional hospitality of his house, a special
need for him to show his loyalty as the imcle of
Arabella Stuart. Thirteen knights were made
among the EarFs friends by the King at Worksop.
But at the next station, the King performed a
deed ominous of the way in which he could
render justice. A man being taken up for
stealing, was, without trial, hanged by the com-
mand of the King, while a number of prisoners,
without special claim, were set free from prison,
as examples of the royal mercy. The next
most loyal reception was at '^Maister Oliver
Cromwell^s,^^ uncle to the renowned Protector.
James entered his house in state, preceded by the
Earl of Southampton, who carried the sword of
state, and there experienced the most luxurious
entertainment, not excepting that of the Earl of
Shrewsbury, that had been given him since his
departure from Scotland. Such plenty and
variety of meats, such diversity of wines, and
those " not riffe ruffe but ever the best of their
kinde.^^ Beer and ale flowed in like proportion,
and as the cellars were open to every man^s call,
we need not be surprised that the company who
flocked ^^to see the King^^ was greater than
any since his progress. Here the heads of the
University of Cambridge, clad in scarlet . gowns

262 Life and Letters of [1603.

and comer caps, attended and read a Latin
welcome to his Majesty, and presented liim witli
some books in commendation of the late Queen.
" Maister Cromwell " also presented him with a
'^very great and a very faire- wrought standing
cup of gold, goodly horses, flete and deepe-
mouthed houndes, divers hawkes of excellent
wing,^^ and also gave fifty pounds to be distri-
buted among the King's servants. James royally
expressed his satisfaction by saying, at his de-
parture, ^'Morry, mon, thou hast treated me
better than any one since I left Edinburgh,^' a
speech not less remarkable for its elegance than
for its delicacy to those who, having, like poor
Gilbert Shrewsbury, plunged themselves into debt
and difficulty to welcome the King, found their
efforts now sink into insignificance.

On the 11th of May, James arrived at White-
hall, and the pomp of the long series of receptions
over, Cecil waited on him to speak in behalf of
Arabella. She had been, during the progress of
James, transferred from Sheriff Button to Wrest
House, the seat of Henry, Earl of Kent, who had
married one of the daughters of Earl Gilbert,*
and was here a kind of prisoner, though treated
as one of the family. On the accession of James,
seeing that the whole nation received him with such

* Letter of the Earl of Shrewsbury.— Lambeth MS. 709,
foL 15L

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart 26^

Tinanimoiis satisfaction that no danger was to be
apprehended from those who might have made a
rallying-point of Arabella, Cecil probably induced
the King to send orders for her release, for when
James arrived in London, Arabella was at liberty,
and had already had an interview with him when
Cecil appealed on her behalf. A little uneasiness
still remained. After a long conversation on
the subject, James told Cedl that he thought the
Earl of Kent^s house, from whence Arabella
• came, was still the fittest place for her.* But
Cedl was aware of her high spirit, and that, if
provoked, she might really revolt and cause much
trouble; whereas kind treatment would induce
her to act according to his wishes. He therefore
told the King that he thought '^ she wotdd not
go thither nor to any other place as commanded
thereunto, for so she might think that she were
still as under a kind of restraint, and that now
she had spoken with his Majesty, if she had not
given him satisfaction, she might conceive that
she should never be able to give him satisfaction,
and so it would redouble her grief and afflic-
tion of mind wherewith she had been too long^
already tormented.^' He therefore asked the
King '^ to deal tenderly with her,^^ and to send
her word, ''that forasmuch as he had spoken

• Letter of the Earl of Shrewsbury.— Lambeth MS. 709,
fol. 161.

264 Life and Letters of [1603.

with her and found her so well inclined to do
all things that might give his Majesty satis-
faction, he would leave her to the charge of her
own good discretion, assuring himself that she
would do nothing of moment whatsoever without
his privity and good allowance/^* As James
still hesitated, Cecil promised that, if the King
would agree to this, though he would not order
her to limit herself to any place, yet that he,
with the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury, would
undertake that Arabella should choose a residence
with the Marchioness of Northampton at Sheen.
On this the King agreed to Cecilys request. The
royal message was sent to Arabella, and she was
once more at liberty.

Cecil found no difficulty in fulfilling his part
of the bargain. Arabella went to Sheen, and
from thence addressed the two following letters to
Cecil on the subject of an allowance as a scion
of royal blood. He acted very cautiously, for
it would not have done to press the claims of
Arabella too closely. The King was well inclined
to her, and it was better to have patience.

Lady Arabella Stuart to the Lord Cecil.f
" My good Lord, — I presume to trouble your

* Letter of the Earl of Shrewsbury.— Lambeth MS. 709,
fol. 161.
t This and the following letters from the Sloajie M^**

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart 265

Lordsllip in renewing that Bluest wluch when
I last spake with you, I could not please you to
grant, or at least to let me know you would
make me bound to you in that kind ; that is,
that it would please your Lordship to remember
the King's Majesty of my maintenance, which if
it be not a matter fit for you (as which your
Lordship hath already dealt in) my Uncle of
Shrewsbury is greatly deceived, or hath deceived
me. But I suppose neither, and therefore pre-
sume so much of your honorable disposition that
you will endeavour to obtain me that which it
will be for his Majesty^s honour to grant. And
therefore your Lordship, in that respect (if there
were no other), I doubt not, will perform more
than it was your pleasure to promise me, I think,
because you would have the benefit greater
coming unpromised. And so wishing your
Lordship increase of honour and happiness, I
cease.

. '' Prom Sheen, the 14th of June, 1603.
'^ Your Lordship^s firiend,*

'^Arbella Stuart.'^

4164, are taken from copies made by Birch of the originals,
then in the possession of Lord Wej'moath, and now among
the manuscripts of the Marquis of Bath.

* " Lord," " Sir," and " Mr.," are frequently used almost
indiscriminately for the same person in the old manuscripts.
Cecil was only a Knight at this time.

266 Life and Letters of [1603.

Lady Arabella Stuart to Lord Robert Cecil.*
" My good Lobd^ — It hath pleased his Majesty
to alter his purpose concerning the pension
whereof your Lordship writ to me. It may
please to move his Majesty that my present want
may be supplied by his Highness with some
sum of money which needeth not be annual^
if it shall so seem good to his Majesty. But I
would rather make hard shift for the present,
than be too troublesome to his Highness, who
I doubt not will allow me maintenance in such
liberal sort as shall be for his Majesty's honour,
and a testimony to the world no less of his
Highness^ Princely bounty, than natural affection
to me. Which good intention of his Majesty^s,
I doubt not but your Lordship will further, as
you shall see occasion, whereby your Lordship shall
make me greatly bounden to you, as I already
acknowledge myself to be. And so with humble
thanks for your honorable letter, I recommend
your Lordship to the protection of the Almighty,
who send you all honour and contentment.
" From Sheen, the 22nd of June.

" Your Lordship's poor firiend,

'^Arbella Stuart.''

Superscribed, "To the Eight Honorable, my

very good Lord, the Lord Cecil."
Endorsed, " 22 June, 1603, Lady Arbella Stuart

to my Lord."

•Ballard's "Memoirs."

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart 267

Lady Arabella Stuart to Lord Robe^H Cecil.^

" My good LobDj — I humbly thank your Lord-
ship that it will please you amongst your great
affairs to remember my Suit to his Majesty for
the alteration of my pension. I hope I shall
shortly have the means to acquaint your Lord-
ship with it myself. If I should name two
thousand pounds for my present occasions it
would not exceed my necessity, but I dare
not presume to crave any certain sum, but
refer myself wholly to his Majesty's considera-
tion, and assure myself I shall find your
Lordship my honorable good friend, both in
procuring it as soon, and making the sum as
great as may be. So with humble thanks to
your Lordship for your continual favours, I re-
commend your Lordship to the protection of the
Almighty. Prom Sheen, the 23rd of June, 1603.
" Your Lordship^s poor friend,

'^ Arbella Stuart.

Superscribed, " To the Right Honorable, my
very good Lord, the Lord Cecil."

The submission of Arabella to go to Sheen

had a good effect. James manifested the most

kindly spirit towards her, and appointed her

state governess to his eldest daughter, the

* Ballard's "Memoirs."

268 Life and Letters of [1603.

Princess Elizabeth^ according to a custom whicli
required that office to be filled by the lady
nearest of the blood royal. She was allowed to
go to her uncle's at Welbeck, to meet the Queen,
and make the acquaintance of her royal charge.
Early in June^ Queen Anne of Denmark de-
parted from Scotland^ to follow her consort to
their new dominions. Bess of Hardwick was
Tery anxious to receive her at Chatsworth, and
deputed Arabella to invite the royal traveller.
But an impleasant memory was attached to Bess,
as the gaoler of the king's mother, Mary, Queen
of Scots, and Anne of Denmark declined the in-
vitation — a refusal which was rendered doubly
mortifying to Bess, as the Queen accepted that
of her bitter enemy and former ally, Gilbert, Earl
of Shrewsbury. Again that unhappy man,
steeped as he already was in debt, was obliged
to plunge into fresh expenses to give a worthy
reception to the Queen and her children at his
house at Worksop. Sir Henry Pierrepoint, who
had married a daughter of Bess, had also the
honour of entertaining her Majesty at his house
at Holme Pierrepoint. But it was at Welbeck,
the residence of her uncle. Sir Charles Cavendish,
that Arabella first made the acquaintance of the
Queen and Princess. The account of the meeting
exactly illustrates thQ artificial manners of the

1603.] Xa(iy Arabella Stuart 269

time, and is quoted from the words of an eye-
witness.

" One day as we were coming down a hill in
Nottinghamshire, we perceived a great company,
which, as we drew near, appeared like what you
have read of the shepherds and shepherdesses of
Arcadia. One band was of young women dressed
all in white, with garlands on their heads, and
on their arms baskets of flowers, which they
strewed along the road, followed by young men
clad also in white, and playing on the tabor, pipe,
and all kinds of rural instruments, leading a flock
of sheep, whose wool was white as snow. Cornu-
copias, and other emblems of peace and plenty,
were carried by several of the party, singing
choruses in praise of the royal family, and of the
blessings of peace, which their accession was to
secure to the whole Island.

" A troop of hunstmen arrayed in green and
silver came next, conducting a herd of tame
deer with their horns tipped with gold. These
swains told us that Diana, hearing of the Queen^s
approach, was coming to invite her to repose
herself in one of her retreats. They hardly
ended their speech, which was in verse, when we
heard the sound of bugles from a neighboip'ing
wood, out of which we saw several beautiful girls
advance, attired like nymphs ; and last of all

270 Life and Letters of [1603.

appeared Diana — ^that is^ a lady representative of
the goddess^ who proved to be the Lady Arabella
Stuart/'*

The spectacle met with complete success. The
young princess was charmed with her state
governess, and ^^ was never happier than when in
her company/'t Arabella joined the Queen's
train, and by her conversation and powers of
pleasing rendered the rest of the journey to
London lively and agreeable.

The duties of Arabella were merely nominal,
LadyKildare and Lady Harrington having the real
work to perform. Consequently, when the Princess
Elizd.beth separated from the rest of the company
in order to rest at Combe Abbey, the residence
of Lord Harrington, Arabella did not accom-
pany her, but followed the Queen and Prince
Henry to London.

At Althorpe, the seat of Sir Robert Spencer,
the royal travellers were sumptuously entertained,
and at their entrance into the gardens, a masque
composed by Ben Jonson was given to them,
and was so well received by the Queen, as to be
the forerunner of many orders to the poet for

* Extracted from a MS. " Life of Elizabeth of Bohemia."
Quoted by Miss Strickland, " Lives of the Qaeens of Soot-
land," viii. p. 7.

t Ibid.

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 271

similar wares, wliicli brought in a comfortable
income, thougb about as creditable to his genius
as a tavern sign-board to an artist.

At Easton Neston, at the seat of Sir George
Fermor, the travellers were met by the King,
and from thence proceeded to Windsor, where
they were joined by the Princess and her two
under-govemesses.

At Windsor, the King held a chapter of the
Garter, in order to install as Knights of that
ancient order Prince Henry, then a little boy
nine years old, the Duke of Lennox, Lord South-
ampton, the Earl of Pembroke, and the Earl
of Mar.* The Queen, who was at enmity
with the Earl of Mar, refused to be present,
on account of Mar being among the
favoured ones, but the Princess Elizabeth, with
Lady Arabella, witnessed the ceremony from a
recess in one of the windows of St. George^s
Hall.t

After it was over, the Queen held a drawing-
room, at which was present with Arabella, her
aunt, Mary of Shrewsbury. Both were " most
sumptuous in appaxell, and exceeding rich and
glorious in jewels.^^J Probably Arabella's were

* Lady Anne Clifford's Diary.

t Howe's "Chronicle."

t MS. " Life of Elizabeth." Quoted by Miss Strickland.

272 Life and, Letters of [1603.

partly firom the restored legacy of her grand-
mother^ Margaret Lennox.

Shortly after this^ the Princess Elizabeth was
consigned wholly to the care of Lady Harrington
and her husband. When the Princess was
ready to depart for Combe Abbey^ she found
it almost impossible to part firom Lady Arabella^
to whom she had become deeply attached ;* only
the assurance that Arabella was still to be her
state governess and see her at all vacations could
console her. Arabella herself then set out on a
visit to her relations^ and^ after a short stay in
the country^ returned to the Courts which was
now driven from London by the plague, and
was resting temporarily at Famham^ whither Earl
Gilbert accompanied her.

Her naturally high spirits, and the spies by
whom she was surrounded^ made Gilbert anxious
lest she should incautiously give utterance to
words that might be distorted into mischief^ and
he gave her much good advice about her conduct
at Court. Arabella was herself in some trepida-
tion. The restraint under which Cecil had so lately
thought it necessary to place her^ had shown
her that she had stood on the verge of a pitfall
Earl Gilbert especially warned her against levity
and mirth^ and anxiously charged her to maintain
• MS. " Life of Elizabeth." Quoted by Miss Strickland.

ij5o3.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 273

the high dignity of her birth and station with
becoming gravity. He gave her a letter of
introduction to the Lord Chamberlain, and,
bidding her farewell with great affection,
he took his departure for the north. Shortly
after, he received jfrom her the following
epistle : —

Lady Arabella Stuart to Gilbert, Earl of
Shrewsbury.^

^' I humbly thank you for your Letter to my
Lord Chamberlain Sidney in my behalf, which I
have not yet delivered, and for letting me under-
stand your course, which though it bend di-
rectly northward, will not hinder you from think-
ing and looking to the South, where you leave
me to take my fortune in an unknown climate,
without either art or instruction, but what I
have from you, whose skilftd directions I will
observe as far forth as they are Puritan like.
And though I be very frail, I must confess, yet I
trust you shall see in me the good effects of your
prayer and your great glory for reforming my
untowardly resolutions and mirth, for great
shall the melancholy be that shall appear in my
letter to you, which as the best preservative of

* Sloane MS., 4164.
VOL. I. T

274 Life and Letters of [1603.

healthy I recommend to you, to whom I wish

long life, honour, and aU happiness.

" From Famham, the 14th of August, 1603.

" Your Disciple,

"Abbella Stuabt/^

** To the Eight Honorable, my very good Un<^,
• the Earl of Shrewsbury."

As yet the application of Arabella for an
allowance had been unsuccessful. Her position
was certainly a hard one. She was commanded
to reside at Court — a Court where all the ladies
were expected to dress magnificently and make
numerous presents, besides aU their other own
unavoidable expenses. As a princess oi the blood
royal, she was to maintain a retinue suitable to
her royal dignity ; and as all these expenses had
begun before any income was settled, she was
getting yet more deeply into debt, and anxious
and irritated at the manner in which she was
treated. She wrote again to her good uncle, be-
seeching him to write to Cecil and counteract the
influence of Lord Henry Howard, who spitefiilly
endeavoured to hinder her obtaining that allowance
of " Diete^' which she required for the mainte-
nance of her household. Notwithstanding the
hard manner in which Arabella had been treated
by Queen Elizabeth, she evidently turned with

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 275

disgust from the first "besotted levity and
blatant joy'' with which the fickle courtiers
hailed her successor. The miserable gossip and
petty scandals of the " great and gracious ladies''
who had flattered the late Queen, and done all
in their power to encourage her foibles, while
they contributed nothing to her greatness, were
revolting to Arabella, who now wrote the fol-
lowing letter to her Aunt Mary : —

Lady Arabella Stuart to the Countess of
Shrewsbury ,'^

" Madame, — I have written to my Uncle how
the world goes with me. I beseech you get him
to write to Lor^ Cecil in my behalf, and to take
notice of his and my Lord H. Howard's crossing
the King's intention for my allowance of diet.
I think that makes others deny me that the
King granted, and makes even himself think
anything enough, when the wise counsellors think
it too much. You know his inclination to be
kind to all his kin, and liberal to all below, and
you know his protestations of extraordinary aflfec-
tion to me. Therefore I am sure it is evil
counsel that withholds him so long from doing
for me in as liberal sort, or more, as he hath done
for any. The Queen was very desirous to have
♦ Sloane MS., 4164, fol. 168.

T 2

276 Life and Letters of . [1603.

accompanied the King. When she speaks of
yon^ she speaks very kindly and honorably of
you. Onr great and gracious ladies have no
gesture nor fault of the late Queen unremem-
bered, as they say who are partakers of their
talk^ as I thank God I am not. Mr. Elphin-
stone is my very good friend and yours much
devoted.

'^ I pray you let me hear of my faults from
you when you will have me mend them, for I am
sure you shall hear of them there, and I have
neither those faults which are thought so here,
nor those qualities good that are most gracious
here. Now you are a bystander, you may guide
and direct better than ever.

^' I hereby take my leave, praying the Al-
mighty to send you all happiness.

'' From Basing, the 23rd of August (1603?).
^^ Your Ladyship^s niece to command,

^^ Abbella Stuart.

" I beseech you, commend me to my Uncle
Charles and my Aunt, and all my Cousins with
you. Sir William Stuart remembereth his ser-
vice to you and my Uncle.^'

Arabella, admired and caressed as she had
been when a chUd by aU who saw her, had lost
none of her attractions. The approving maimer
in which both James and his Queen spoke of

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart 277

her, had removed all fear of arousing his jealousy,
and her frank and open heart won her friends on
all sides. No party was complete without her —
envy alone detracted from her merits. Yet the
excitement of the Court was little to her taste.
Forced as she was to squander precious hours in
useless ceremonies and idle masques and games
with which the Queen and those around her
killed the time that hung so heavy on their
hands, still Arabella contrived to reserve fixed
hours for ^tudy, now rendered doubly valuable
by the difficulty with which they were obtained.
Her spirits were high, and gave her an appear-
ance of almost dangerous gaiety, which, while
it enchanted the strangers round her, gave cause
for care to those who knew her best, and were
aware how the most innocent actions can be
misinterpreted and misreported. Among the
courtiers was a simple knight, named Sir William
Fowler. He was the son of Thomas Fowler, the
executor of Margaret Lennox, and as such had
been brought into connexion with the Shrews-
bury family. He kept up a constant corre-
spondence with Earl Gilbert, informing him of
what passed at Court, the disposition, humour;
&c., of the King and Queen, advising him as to
his behaviour to them, and all the little news
which is invaluable to a courtier, who depends so
much on the smile or frown of a monarch. Ara-

578 Life and Letters of [1603.

bella^ too. wrote a weekly chronicle to the Shrews-
burys — ^unhappily only a few letters of which
fiurviTe — ^but in which we have doubtless lost one
•of the most perfect pictures of a court that ever
were written, if we may judge firom the speci-
mens that remain. But entertaining as her
letters were,.Gilbert wanted to know what passed
in her absence^ and matters that she could not
impart, and indeed any news was welcome.
Fowler had only just been introduced to Arabella,
of whom, however, he had long heard such
reports that he might well esteem it an unlooked-
for joy when he obtained an introduction to her.
Enraptured as he was with his acquaintance, yet
even he, who is spoken of as a simpleton, seems
to have perceived dangers that he dared not dis-
close in so perilous a missive as a letter. Writing
to Gilbert, after describing Arabella as an
''^eighth wonder of the world,^^ he adds, omi-
nously, " If I durst, I would write more plainly
my opinion of things that fall out here among us,
but I dare not without your Lordship^s warrant
•deal so.^^ He then encloses a sonnet> ^^ to the
honour of her whose sufficiency and perfections
merit more regard than this ungrateful and
depressing age will aflFord or suffer.'^

I transcribe the sonnet, because, notwith-
standing the fantastic language, it gives a true

1603.] Lady AraheUa Stuart 279

idea of Arabella in her serious moments in those
hours of study and intervals from the frivolities
of the Court: —

" To The Most Verteous And Trewlye Sbnorable
^ Lady Arhella Stewart,

" Whilst organs of vaine sence transportes the ^inde^
Embracing objectes both of sight and care^
Toatch, smell, and tast, to which frail flesh indinde,
Preferrs such trash to thinges which are more deare,
Thou godlie nymphe possest with heavenlie feare,
Divine in sonle, devote in life, and grave,
Eapt from thy sence and sex, thy spirits doth steire,
Tries to avoyd which reason doth bereave.
graces rare ! which time from shame shall save,
Wherein thou breath'st (as in the seas doth fish
In salt not saltish), exempt from the grave
Of sad remorse, the lott of worldlinge's wish.
ornament both of thyself and sex !
And mirrour bright, wher virtues doth reflex."

Ridiculous as these lines may be, taken as
poetry, they nevertheless convey the honest
opinion of the worthy knight, whose fit office
was that of Secretary and Master of Requests to
Queen Anne of Denmark. Foolish as may have
been his manners and style of talking, he was as
faithftd and devoted to the "bright particular
star " of his idolatry as a cleverer man could
have been. He was never weary of sounding her
praises ; the sight of her poured joy into his heart,
and he gave utterance to his feelings with an

280 Life and Letters of [1603.

artlessness that^ sneered at as it was by all around
Mm^ and by all who have spoken of him^ was yet
kindly received by Arabella^ who knew well how
rare is an honest heart, how honorable a sincere
affection, let it come from whom and in what
guise it may. She made no '^ game ^' of Fowler,
never " snubbed '^ him, or exhibited him as a
triumph or ridiculous spectacle to her acquaint-
ance, and while she gave him no hope of any
tender feeling on her part, she treated him with
that due respect and gratitude which a lofty-
minded woman must feel for a man who has either
offered or would offer the highest and noblest gift
in his power — ^the guardianship of his honour and
affection.

Fowler was not the only correspondent of
Earl Gilbert at Court on the subject of Ara-
beUa.

Gilbert had, in compliance with her request,
made another appeal to the King about her
allowance through Mr. William Stewart.

Stewart, like Fowler and the Earl himself, saw
the dangers that surrounded her, and wrote
begging Gilbert not to relax his care and advice.
The following letter, while it insinuates nothing
in the least derogatory to Arabella, yet mani-
fests the anxiety of a good and true friend to
her : —

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 281

Mr. William Stewart to the Earl of Shrewsbury.^

'^I have had some speech with his Majesty
eonceming my Lady Arbella and the purpose
which your honour had with me upon the river
at Richmond, whereunto your honour may be
assur^ his Majesty is wonderful well disposed
or affected, seeing thereby one singular well to
him and his by the well-doing of that good turn
as appertains. Your honour and your good
lady will consider by this what the matter means,
being loth to be more special until my own
touching there, which I intend shall be shortly,
and God please after his Majesties removing
from here toward Winchester in this next week.

" I do most heartily beseech your honour and
my good Lady to continue writing from time to
time your wise and loving opinion to my Lady,
your Honour's most tender and dearest niece,
who I doubt not in time, with wisdom, patience,
and good government, shall both be blest by God
and . For although her virtue and know-
ledge has been envied of to me, yet her Ladyship
has acquired many favourers and sundry well-
affected to her humour and good merits by her
good behaviour.

"William Stewart.
" Woodstock, Sept. 13, 1603."

* Sloane MS., 4161, fol. 15.

282 Life and Letters of [1603,

The application of Stewart was successM^ and
Arabella received an allowance from the King's
table of '' a diet '' and eight hundred pounds a
year.* Two hundred pounds were given in ad-
vance, in order to pay the most pressing of her
debts; and in addition to this, among the free
gifts of the Exchequer for 1603, is an eiftry of
six hundred and sixty pounds ^^to the Lady
Arbella/'

When we remember that she was two thousand
pounds in debt, it will be seen that, notwith-
standing this free gift, she was still deeply
embarrassed, a fact which will explain her anxiety
to obtain money, as well as that economy cannot
be numbered among the virtues of her ladyship.

The " diet '^ was considered as a part of the
income allowed to an oflBicer of the household or
a member of the royal family, and was one of the
most important aids where there was anything like
a retinue, and Arabella appears to have had one
or two ladies and gentlemen in waiting, besides
her servants, who must have fared rather hardly
out of her allowance of eight hundred a year for
Court expenses, at any rate, as far as salary was
concerned. What was the exact number and
description of dishes allowed to Arabella, I have
been unable to ascertain, but some idea may be
* Letter of Cecil to the Earl of Shrewsbury. Lodge, iii.

1 603 .] Lady Arabella Stuart 283

gathered from the diet allowed to a lady appa-
rently similarly circimistanced in the reign of
Henry VIII.*

King Henry VIII. to the Lord Steward and other
Officers of the Household, appointing tJie Diet
for "the Lady Lucy.

'' Henry R. By the King.

^'We will and command you to allow daily
and from, henceforth unto our right dear and
well-beloved, the Lady Lucy, into her chamber
the diet and fare hereafter ensuing : —

Pirst, every Morning at Breakfast —
One Chine of Beef at our Kitchen.
One Chete Loaf and one Manchet at our

Pantry Bar.

A gallon of Ale at our Buttery Bar.

Item. At Dinner —
A piece of Beef.
A Stroke of Boast.
A Reward at our said Kitchen.
A Cast of Chete Bread at our Pantry.
A Gallon of Ale at our Buttery Bar. '

Item. At Afternoon —

A Manchet at our Pantry Bar.
Half a Gallon of Ale at our Buttery Bar.
* Ellis's " Letters," First Series.

284 Life and Letters of [t6o3.

Item. At Supper —

A Mess of Porridge.

A Piece of Mutton.

A Reward at our said Kitchen.

A Cast of Chete Bread at our Pantry.

A Gallon of Ale at our Buttery,

Item. At after Supper —
A Chete Loaf and a Manchet at our Pantry
Door.

A Gallon of Ale at our Buttery Bar.
Half a Gallon of Wine at our Cellar Bar.

Item, Every Morning at our Wood Yard —
Four tall Shids and two Faggots.

Item, At our Chaundry Bar in Winter every
Night-
One Pricket.
Four Sizes of Wax.
Eight Candles, white lights.
One Torch.

Item, At our Pilcher House, weekly —
Six White Carps.

Item. At time of our Removing —
One whole Cart for the Carriage of the
Stuff.

Given under our Signet at our Manor of

3603.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 285

Easthampstead^ the 16tli day of July^ the 14th
Year of our Eeign.

" To the Lord Steward of our Household, the
Treasurer, Comptroller, Cofferer, Clerks of
our Green Cloth, Clerks of our Kitchen, and
to all other head Officers of our said House-
hold, and to every of them."

To the above was added a small quantity of
sack^ on occasion of illness. During the latter
years of the reign of Elizabeth, this privilege
became greatly abused, and sack, instead of being
restricted to a medicine, was served up at meals
as an ordinary drink. James determined to
correct this abuse, and limited the quantity of
sack to twelve gallons a day, not for the use of
the whole household, but only for such of the nobi-
lity as were allowed a diet, who were to make a
special application when they required any sack.

Arabella had therefore no reason to complain
of the King on his first accession to the throne.
He treated her as a near relation, and fiilly
acknowledged her rank by always giving her the
first place after the Queen and the royal children.
The confidence of James seemed complete in her,
as well as in the families of Hertford and
Shrewsbury. On the death of Queen EKzabeth,
reports were set about that Lord Beauchamp
was endeavouring to gather a force to assert her

286 Life and Letters of [1603.

claim to the Saccession^ and a letter was even
despatched to the Earl of Shrewsbury to that
eflfect.* The rumour was a natural supplement
to the story of Arabella's proposal for Lord
Beauchamp's son^ and is apparently as well
^worthy of credence.t

This year was memorable for the bad weather
and the plague. More than three thousand
in London and the suburbs died of this terrible
disease in one week. James lived in such
terror of infection that the people were forbidden
to crowd round him, and the Court was in
constant movement from one place to another,
becoming, literally, " a camp volant, which every
week dislodgeth.^'

Woodstock was now the place pitched upon.
It contained an ancient palace, which had been
so long out of use as only to serve as a prison
for Elizabeth when princess. There was, how-
ever, good hunting, and James, regardless of the
comfort of his courtiers, had it roughly fitted up
for himself, while the household were obliged
to camp even in tents pitched near. Cecil
speaks bitterly of the arrangements, so different

* Letter of Pierrepoint to the Earl of Shrewsbury. Hun-
ter's " Hallamshire."

t " There was a rumour two days since that the Lord Beau-
champ stood out and gathered forces, but it waS a false
alarm.'* — Chamberlayne's " Letters."

J 603.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 287

from the pomp that always accompanied Eliza-
beth on her journeys. Says he, " The place is
unwholesome, all the house standing upon
springs. It is unsavoury, for there is no savour
but of cows and pigs. It is uneaseful, for only the
King and Queen, with the privy chamber ladies,
and some three or four of the Scottish Council,
are lodged in the house ; and neither Chamber-
lain, nor one English Councillor, have a room,
which will be a sour sauce to some of your old
friends, that have been merry with you in a
winter^s night, from whence they have not re-
moved to their bed in a snow-storm." Two
letters are preserved of Arabella from Woodstock.

Lady Arabella Stuart to Countess of Shrewsbury,^

'' Madame, — If you receive the letters I write,
I am sure you see I fail not to write often how the
world goeth here, both in particular with me and
otherwise as my Intelligence stretcheth. Where-
fore I rather interpret your postscript to be a ca-
vefit to me to write no more than how I do and
my desire to understand of your health, that is, no
more than is necessary than a new Commandment
to do that which I already do. But lest, in
pleasing you, I offend my Uncle, I have ad-
ventured to write to him one superfluous letter

* Sloane MS., 4164, fol. 178.

288 Life and Letters of [1603.

more^ and that I may include no serious matter
in his^ I send you all I have of that kind^ which
is that the King hath under his hand granted me
the aforesaid mess of meat* and £800 per annum y
and my Lord Cecil wiU despatch it, I trust with
aU speed, for so his Lordship promiseth. Your
long expected messenger, by whom I should
have understood your mind, is not yet come,
and the Queen is going hence to-morrow; but
the change of place will not cease my expecta-
tion till I understand &om you, you have changed
your mind in that matter, which if you do, I shall
hope it is with a mind to come up shortly and
let me know it yourself, according to a bruit
we have here, which I would fain believe. You
shall not fail to receive weekly letters, God
willing, or some very great occasion hinder me.

^' Mr. Elphinstone, who, you may see, is with
me late as well as early, remembers his service
to you. And so I humbly take my leave, pray-
ing the Almighty to send you all honour, happi-
ness, contentment, &c.

^^ Your Ladyship^s niece to copamand,

'^ Arbella Stuart.'^
Indorsed, 16 Sep. 1603.

* A " mess of meat" was generally an allowance for four
persons. A " diet" generally included more than one " mess."
Arabella's allowance is spoken of in both terms.

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 289

Lady Arabella Stuart to the Earl of Shrewsbury,*

''At my return firom Oxford where I have
spent this day, whilst my Lord Cecil amongst
many more weighty affairs was despatching some
of mine, I found my Cousin Lacy had dis-
burdened himself at my chamber of the charge
he had from you, and straight fell to prepare
his freight back, for hindering his back re-
turn to-morrow morning as he intendeth.

" I write to you of the reason of the delay of
Taxis^t audience; it remaineth to tell how
jovially he behaveth himself in the interim. He
hath brought great store of Spanish gloves,
hawks' hoods, leather for jerkins, and, moreover,
a perfumer. These delicacies he bestoweth
amongst our Ladies and Lords, I will not say
with a hope to effeminate the one sex, but cer-
tainly with a hope to grow gracious with the
other, as he already is. The curiosity of our
sex drew many Ladies and gentlewomen to gaze
at him betwixt his landing-place and Oxford his
abiding place, which he, desirous to satisfy (I
will not say nourish that vice), made his coach
stay, and took occasion with petty gifts and

* Lodge, ill.
t The Spanish Ambassador.
VOL. I. U

290 Life and Letters of [1^3.

courtesies to win soon iron affections ; who, codei-
paring his manner with Monsieur de Rosny's^
hold him their far welcomer goest. At Oxford
he took some distaste about his lodgings and
would needs lodge at an inn, because he had not all
Christ's College to himself, and was not received
into the town by the Vice Chancellor tit poniifi-
ealibui, which they nerer use to do but to the
King or Queen or Chancellor of the University,
as they say ; but those scruples were soon di-
gested^ and he vouchsafeth to lodge in a piece
of the College till his repair to the King at
Winchester.

'' Count Aremberg* was here within these few
days^ and presented to the Queen the Arch-
duke's and the Infanta's pictures excellently
drawn. Yesterday the King and Queen dined
at a lodge of Sir Henry Lea's, 8 mUes
hence, and were accompanied by the French
Ambassador^ and a Dutch Duke. I will not say
we were merry at the Dutchkin, lest you com-
plain of me for telling tales out of the Queen's
coach ; but I could find in my heart to write
unto you some of our yesterday's adventures, but
that it groweth late, and, by the shortness of
your letter, I conjecture you would not have this
honest gentleman overladen with such superfluous
* Ambassador from Austria.

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart 291

relations. My Lo. Admiral is returned from
the Prince and Princess, and either is or will be
my cousin before incredulous you will believe
such incongruities in a counsellor, as love maketh
no miracles in his subjects, of what degree or age
whatsoever. His daughter of Kildare is discharged
of her office, and as near a free woman as may be,
and have a bad husband. The Dutch Lady my Lord
Wotton spoke of at Basing proved a Lady sent
by the Duchess of Holstein to learn the English
fashions. She lodgeth at Oxford, and hath been
here twice, and thinketh every day long till
she be at home, so well she liketh her entertain-
ment, or loveth her own country ; in truth she
is civil, and therefore cannot but look for the
like, which she brings out of a ruder country.
But if ever there were such a virtue as courtesy
at the Court, I marvel what is become of it,
for I protest that I see little or none of it but
in the Queen, who. ever since her coming to
Newbury hath spoken to the people as she
passeth, and receiveth their prayers with thanks
and thankful coimtenance, barefaced, to the great
contentment of native and foreign people; for
I would not have you think the French Am-
bassador would leave that attractive virtue of
our late Queen Elizabeth unremembered or un-
commended, when he saw it imitated by our most

V 2

292 Life and Letters of [j^oj,

gracious Queen^ lest you should think we infest
even our neighbours with incivility. But what
a theme have rude I gotten upon unawares ? It
is your own virtue I commend, by the foil of
the contrary vice ; and so, thinking on you, my
pen accused myself before I was aware. There-
fore I wiU put it to silence for this time, only
adding a short but most hearty prayer for your
prosperity in all kinds, and so humbly take my
leave.

" From Woodstock, the 16th of September.
" Your Lordship^s niece,

^ Arbella Stuart.*^

The next move of the Court was to Win-
chester ; and here, notwithstanding the pestilence
and the distress of the country, extravagant
banquets and entertainments were given, and
hunting pursued in the usual reckless manner,
to the exclusion of business and work.

Arabella was drawn into the vortex, and,
much against her will, obliged to dance attend-
ance on those whose only object seems to have
been to get rid of life in the most useless manner
possible. But still she reserved fixed hours for
study, and it was only by rigidly insisting on
them that she was at all able to break loose
from the profligate crowd amid which she dwelt.

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart 293

And yet there was no home to which she conld
turn a longing eye ; no gentle remembrance of
better things for her. The splendid seats of her
relations in the country were all marred and
poisoned by discord, for her grandmother Bess
was on the most dismal terms with the Earl
Gilbert, who seems to have been the one for
whom Arabella cared the most, and her Aunt
Mary, as the daughter of Bess and the wife of
Gilbert, and the inheritress of a difficult temper
and unbridled spirit, was not one who could
make matters much more cheerful. Arabella
was alone, as she had always been, in the midst
of a crowd — and still she strove to make the
most of her position, and extract such happiness
as was possible under the circumstances. Fowler
bears witness to her life at this time, as ^^ more
fairer than fair, more beautiftd than beauteous,
truer than truth itself/^ and Sir W. Stewart
writes, '' I find my Lady Arbella both considerate
and wise.'^ What time she could rescue from
vanity was spent in ^' lecture, reading, hearing
of service and preaching.^'t Ambitious eyes
were lifted towards the fair student, but all hint
at marriage was sternly and utterly silenced
by her. As yet she had found none with

• Fowler to the Earl of Shrewsbury. Lodge, iii.
t Ibid.

294 Life and Letters of [1603.

whom she could feel such sympathy as she

required. Her next letters give a hint of her
lifer-

Lad"^ Arabella Stuart to the Countess of
Shrewsbury,

" Madam^ — According to your commandment^
I send your Ladyship a few scribbled lines,
though I be now going in great haste to give my
attendance with some company that is come to
fetch me. I am as diligently expected, and as
soon missed, as they that perform the most ac-
ceptable service. And because I must return at
an appointed time to go to my book, I must
make the more haste thither. So praying for
your happiness, I humbly take my leave.

" From Winchester the 6th of October, 1603.
" Your Ladyship^s niece to command,

^'Abbella Stuabt.'^*

Lady Arabella Stuart to the Earl of Shrews-
bury.f

*^ I humbly thank your Lordship for the (as
to me it seemed, I assure you) short letters of two

* Sloane MS., 4164, fol. 179.
t Ibid.

j^oj.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 295

sheets of paper, which I received from you by
this Bearer, Mrs. Nelson.

" The letters to my Lord Cecil, Sir Thomas
Edmonds, were deliyered, though not so soon as
I wished, they being both absent from hence, so
that Sir Thomases was delivered to the door-
keeper of the Council Chamber, and Sir Thomas
not coming thither so soon as was expected, Mr.
Harley thought good to fetch it from him ; and
now he hath since disposed of it. I know not
nor doubt not but he hath done with it as you
would have him, for he seems to me very well
instructed in your mind. My Lord Cecil had
his as soon as he came.

" My bad eyes crave truce till they may, with-
out their manifest danger, write a letter of a
larger volume. And so praying for your Lord-
ship's honour and happiness in the highest degree
that ever subject possessed, I humbly take my
Leave.

" From Fulston, the 27th of October, 1603.
'' Yotir Lordship's niece,

^'Abbella Stuart.''

. On the 2fld of November, 1608, we find an
order by virtue of the Kiiig's privy seal, bear*
ing date the 17th day of September last, for
payment of " £200 to the Lady Arbella Stuart as

296 Life and Letters of [1603.

for one quarter's rent of £800 yearly, due and
payable to the said lady by virtue of the said
privy seal/'*

This was her second quarter's instahnent, the
first having been anticipated. It came in good
time, for expenses were approaching.

James, not a whit less rapacious than Eliza^
beth, expected the customary presents. New
year's tide was approaching, and the Countess
Mary now warned her niece to be in good time
with some appropriate gift, that would win the
hearts of the King and Queen. The short letters
are attributable to the ill-health that now assailed
Arabella, possibly also to the fear of transmitting
news that began to be dangerous, and nearly
affecting her. In her note of November 6th,
there is a faint indication that things are not
so pleasant as heretofore between herself and her
aunt Maiy.

Lady Arabella Stuart to the Countess of
Shrewsbury.^

"Madame, — I humbly thank you for your
good advice against New year's tide. I think
there will be no remedy but I must provide

• Devon's " Pell Records," p. 6.
t Sloane MS., 4164, fol. 180.

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart. 297

myself from London^ though being loth to
do so.

" I tmderstand by Sir William Stewart how
much I am bound to you and my unde.

'^I will bethink myself against your long
expected trusty messenger come, whatsoever he
be, and that expectation shall keep me from
troubling you with so full and tedious a discourse
as I could find in my heart to disburden my
mind withal to you.

''I humbly thank you for my servant, G.
Chancellor, and so praying for your happiness I
humbly cease.

'' Prom Fulston, the 4th of November, 1603.

" Your Ladyship's niece to command,

" Aebella Sttjaet.'^

Lady Arabella Stuart to the Countess of
Shrewsbury.^

" Madame, — Because I received a letter from
you by this gentlewoman, I dare not for incur-
ring her opinion of my relapse into some un-
kindness toward you, but send you a few lines.
I will keep (account?) of all the dates of my
letters. That letter of yours which I received
since by Mr. Harley I have answered by him.

* Sloane MS., 4164, fol. 180.

298 Life and Letters of [1603.

''My eyes are extremely swoln, yet I have
not spared them, when I had occasion to employ
them for your sake. Therefore now they may
boldly crave a cessation for this time, only per-
forming their office whilst I subscribe myself,
such as I am and will continue, that is
"Your Ladyship's niece to command,

''Arbella Stuart/'
Indorsed, 6 Nov., 1603.

Lady Arabella Stuart to the Countess of
Shrewsbury.*

''Madame, — I humbly thank you for your
letters, pill, and hartshorn. I have taken, con-
tinued, and increased an extreme cold.

" Mrs. Cooke can tell you how the world goes
here. And so praying for your happiness I
humbly take my leave.

" From Fulston, the 28th of November, 1603.
" Your Ladyship's niece to command,

"Arbella Stuart."

Lady Arabella Stuart to the Earl of
Shrewsbury.^

"I must only return your Lordship humble
thanks for the letters I have received, and reserve

♦ Sloane MS., 4164.
t Ibid., fol. 181.

1603.] Lady Arabella Stuart 299

the answer^ till I trust a few days will make me
able to write without extreme pain of my head.

'^Mr. Cooke can tell your Lordship all the
news that is here.

" And so praying for your Lordship^s happi-
ness, I humbly take my leave.

'' From Fulston, 28th of Nov., 1603.
•" Your Lordship^s niece,

^^ Arbella Stuart.'*

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

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